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HOW THEY HAD CHATTERED 









NANCY LEE’S 
LOOKOUT 


By 

MARGARET WARDE 

Author of 

The “Betty Wales’ Books” 
Nancy Lee 

Nancy Lee’s Spring Term 


Nancy Lee’s Spring Tj 


i } 

Illustrated by 
Pemberton Ginthbr 





THE PENN PUBLISHING 
COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 

MCMXV 




COPYRIGHT 
1915 BY 
THE PENN 
PUBLISHING 
COMPANY 



’s Lookout 


$ / V-vT' 

©CLA410501 

SEP 17 1915 


Introduction 

Nancy Lee was at Fair Oaks School when her 
readers made her acquaintance in her first story, 
" Nancy Lee.” It was there that she met the 
Terrible Twins : tall, awkward Jane and pretty 
little Christina. The three friends called them- 
selves the Triangle, and in the spring term they 
formed the mysterious order of W. W.’s. 

But " Nancy Lee's Spring Term ” at Fair Oaks 
School is a story in itself. For it was then that 
Nancy had her great adventure with Timmy Lee 
Marshall Raftery, that adorable infant whose 
arrival at Fair Oaks ushered in an era of unprec- 
edented excitement and interest. When Timmy 
had to be taken home, Nancy was a proud mem- 
ber of his escort-party, and she had just returned 
from that mission when the story of her summer 
at Halcyon Bay opens. 

Margaret Warde. 


3 





Contents 


I. 

Summer Plans 


9 

II. 

Everything’s Spoiled ! 


36 

III. 

“ You Be on the Lookout ! ” . 


54 

IV. 

Nancy’s Lookout .... 


73 

V. 

More New Friends .... 


93 

VI. 

Was He the Burglar ? . . . 


108 

VII. 

A World Full of Questions 


124 

VIII. 

A Ride in a Sedan Chair . 


146 

IX. 

The Dinner Party .... 


163 

X. 

Twins to the Rescue 


*77 

XI. 

Putting a Kink in the Dolphin’s Tail 


194 

XII. 

A Visit to the Captains’ Watch-Tower 

211 

XIII. 

A Costly Victory .... 


228 

XIV. 

The Best Move in the Lookout Game 


243 

XV. 

That Fatal Regatta 


261 

XVI. 

Catching an Eel .... 


281 

XVII. 

w Summer-by-the-Sea ”... 


297 

XVIII. 

The Green Knight’s Big Day . 


3*3 

XIX. 

A Wonderful World 


333 


5 






Illustrations 


How They Had Chattered . 

PAGE 

. . . Frontispiece 

“ I’m All Right Now ” . 

. . . . 42 % 

“ I’ve Been On the Lookout ” 

. . . . 105 / 

“ Thanks, I Was Just Going” 

. . . . 201 ^ 

She Reached For the Ball . 

. 238 

“ Has a Telegram Come ? ” 

. . . . 269 ^ 

“ My Balloons Aren’t Here ” 

. 299 


Nancy Lee’s Lookout 


7 




























Nancy Lee’s Lookout 


CHAPTER I 

SUMMER PLANS 

“Oh, mother dear, what do you suppose our 
sweet little Timmy is doing now?” demanded 
Nancy Lee, darting out upon the piazza of the Lee 
family’s summer cottage, where her mother sat 
sewing. 

It was a perfect June afternoon, all cool green- 
ery near the piazza, and beyond, blue shimmering 
sea, sparkling and dancing in the sunshine. But 
Nancy, all out of tune with the summer peace, 
swept out of the house like a wild March wind, 
perched uncertainly on the piazza railing for an 
instant, and then dropped into a wicker chair near 
mother’s, and leaned limply back against the scar- 
let cushions with an expression of petulant misery 
on her usually merry face. The wild March 
breeze seemed almost ready to blow up an April 
shower. 

And yet there was nothing the matter with 
Nancy Lee, except that she had been having too 
9 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


good a time. She had just reached home after a 
very exciting journey, had found more excitements 
awaiting her at the journey’s end, and now she 
was feeling the reaction that all joyous adventures 
are likely to bring in their wake. 

“ I just can’t settle down to anything ! ” sighed 
poor Nancy, without waiting for mother to an- 
swer her question. 

It was rather more than a week since Fair Oaks 
School had closed for the summer vacation, and 
Timmy Lee Marshall Raftery, adored young pro- 
tege of Fair Oaks, had started for his Western 
home, under the guardianship of Lloyd Mallory, 
Margaret Lewis, Jeanne Durand, and Nancy Lee, 
with little Miss Dutton to chaperon the expedi- 
tion. There was no real reason why Nancy, not 
being a Western girl, should have been of Timmy’s 
party, except one. It was she who had found the 
adorable Timmy and presented him to Fair Oaks 
School. On this account he had always seemed to 
belong a little more to Nancy than to any one else. 
This fact and the possession of an understanding 
and generous father had secured for Nancy the 
chance of helping to escort Timmy home. And 
now Timmy was safe in the custody of his doting 
parents and Nancy had likewise arrived in the 
midst of her family circle. Her home-coming 
had brought her another bit of excitement, as un- 
io 


SUMMER PLANS 


expected and delightful as her father’s permission 
to make the trip out to Pine Ridge, Michigan, 
with Timmy. And father was at the bottom of 
this second surprise also — he was certainly a per- 
fectly splendid father I 

He had met his daughter in Boston, listened, 
almost appreciatively enough to suit her, to the 
story of her adventures in Pine Ridge and at 
Camp Sixty-Nine, and when even Nancy’s supreme 
interest in Timmy could evolve no new details 
about him, and the journey was beginning to seem 
very hot and dusty and tedious, father suddenly 
began to enliven it by mysterious references to a 
grand surprise that awaited Nancy at the end of 
the trip. 

Yes, mother had been surprised, and brother 
Dick. As for the rest of the Lee family, — Will- 
iam, aged eleven, and Josephine, aged thirteen, 
more intimately known as Bill and Joe, because 
they were inseparable and Josephine was a good 
deal of a tomboy, — they, too, had been tremen- 
dously surprised, Mr. Lee assured his excited 
daughter. And did they like it? Mother and 
Dick did ; Bill and Joe hadn’t been sure, when 
father, who had had to hurry right back to busi- 
ness, after having escorted his family to Halcyon 
Bay and sprung his surprise on them, had seen 
the volatile pair last. 


ii 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

“ Then I suppose I shall like it,” said Nancy 
sagely, “ if it’s the kind of thing grown-ups like, 
and children can’t appreciate at first.” 

“ You’ve grown up amazingly since I saw you 
last spring,” teased father. 

“ Well, I truly have,” Nancy defended herself 
earnestly. “ It may not show much outside, but 
I feel as old and responsible as anything. I’m 
going to do so many useful things to help this 
summer 1 ” 

“ The surprise will like to hear that,” said father 
solemnly. 

“The surprise — will — like Oh, father, it’s 

not any kind of governess, is it? ” 

Father shook his head. “ But it will appreciate 
small attentions from useful young persons like 
yourself. It’s not quite finished, you see. That 
is, it hasn’t fully adapted itself to our family 
ways.” 

Nancy meditated. “ Are you talking fair, 
father? One minute the surprise sounds like a 
person, and then like a thing, and then like a new 
pet that has to be trained not to claw the furni- 
ture, like the Spoiled Kitten, or chew up mother’s 
best shoes, like Dick’s collie. Did Josephine take 
good care of the Spoiled Kitten on the train, fa- 
ther ? He hates to travel so. Why, here we are ! ” 

It was quite dark by the time they got to the 
12 


SUMMER PLANS 


end of the long trolley ride that supplemented 
the train trip. Nancy thought it rather silly of 
father to take a carriage, when the house was just 
a step off, up Rocky Neck Hill and down Willow 
Lane. But when their driver kept straight on, 
past Willow Lane, past the Inn, and on along 
Lighthouse Road, Nancy was first bewildered, and 
then, in a flash, she understood. 

“You’ve bought us ‘The Crags/ father ! That’s 
the grand surprise ! ” 

“ Good guess ! ” chuckled Mr. Lee. “ Your 
mother was at least twice as long making out 
what was up.” 

“ Oh, I wanted that place so ! ” sighed Nancy 
blissfully. “ It’s such a nice, squatty, friendly 
house. Ours was so dreadfully plain and tall 
and thin. And the grounds are so big and so 
fascinating ! ” 

“ You’ve never half seen them, Miss Cock-sure,” 
laughed her father. “ You were always wishing 
last summer that Miss Willis would let you wan- 
der around by yourself when you went to call on 
her, instead of giving you high tea on the piazza, 
and then sending you off for a ride in her launch.” 

Nancy laughed. “ And she never once forgot 
to tell her captain to bring us back to the Inn 
dock, so we shouldn’t have the long walk home. 
I was always hoping she wouldn’t mention it, and 

13 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


then I could have been brought back to her dock 
and wandered a little speck, maybe, on the way up 
to the house to thank her for the sail. No, I 
haven’t really explored at all. But all the same, I 
know that ‘ The Crags ’ is perfectly, perfectly fas- 
cinating.” 

“ How so ? ” demanded father. 

“ Because it’s big enough and tangly enough to 
make you long to explore it ! ” returned Nancy 
promptly. “ And it’s right on the water, with its 
very own rocks ” 

“ And its very own mosquitoes ! ” scoffed father. 

Nancy reached over and squeezed his hand lov- 
ingly. “ You’re an old dear, father. First, to let 
me go home with Timmy, and then, this ! Of 
course the new house is for all of us, but I was the 
one that wanted it most, and I’ll try to pay up 
by ” 

A war-whoop from the roadside interrupted 
Nancy’s grateful little speech, and William and 
Josephine leaped disconcertingly out of the shad- 
ows. 

“ Hello, Nancy ! ” shrieked William. 

“ Does she know about the surprise, father ? ” 
demanded Josephine. 

“ Did you remember to bring us the fish-lines ? ” 
chanted the two in noisy unison. 

“ Climb in, you rogues,” laughed father. “ You 

14 


SUMMER PLANS 


ought to be in bed. Anybody that’s going deep 
sea fishing with me before breakfast ” 

“ Ob, joyous, joyous I ” sang Bill and Joe. 

“ Here they are at last I ” Mother and Dick 
were down by the gate to meet the travelers — that 
fascinating rustic gate with red roses growing over 
it. It was too dark to see the roses, but Nancy 
reached up to feel them with one arm, while she 
hugged mother with the other. 

“ Oh, I can’t wait to see how it looks, now that 
it’s ours I ” she cried, dancing down the dark, lit- 
tle woodsy path, with the house lights gleaming a 
welcome at the other end. 

Beyond the piazza it was all velvety black, ex- 
cept where some yacht’s lamps twinkled green and 
gold and scarlet, or the stars shone softly high 
above them. But Nancy could feel the rocks and 
the pretty stone boat-house and the rippling waters 
of Halcyon Bay as surely as, a minute before, she 
had felt the red roses. 

“ Oh, you can see the lighthouse lamp, Dick I 
You can, you can ! ” she cried delightedly, leaning 
out over the piazza railing. “ Do you remember 
how we discussed it last summer, and you said one 
couldn’t?” 

“ I was right, too, till father had the foliage 
pruned up a bit,” explained Dick loftily. Dick 
had lived at “ The Crags ” for more than a week, 

15 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


and could affect the superiority of an old inhab- 
itant. “ Don’t you ‘ oh ’ and ‘ ah ’ too much to- 
night,” he advised his excited sister. “ Save some 
thunder till you see how father’s had the boat 
fixed up, and you’ve played tennis on our own 
court.” 

“ Oh, is there really a tennis-court ? ” gasped 
Nancy. “ Where? I never saw it.” 

“ Off down there.” Dick waved vaguely into the 
soft darkness. “ You can’t get as much as a sight 
of it from the house or the road. It’s a dandy 
court too, or will be after we’ve played on it a bit. 
Now aren’t you sorry you wasted a week chasing 
home with that kid you call Timmy ? ” 

“ Certainly not,” declared Nancy vehemently. 
“ But now I’m here I simply can’t wait for it to be 
morning.” 

“ Guess you’ll just about have to, all the same,” 
adjured Dick, resuming his superior air. “ Be- 
sides, this new house is fine, but otherwise noth- 
ing’s doing here at Halcyon. None of our special 
crowd has come yet — most of ’em seem not to be 
coming at all this year. Two stunning girls live 
next door, and that tall boy who was at the Inn 
last August — the fellow who did the diving stunts. 
I haven’t talked to ’em yet. Mother says she’ll call 
soon, because it’s their first summer at Halcyon 
and our third.” 


SUMMER PLANS 


11 Oh, yes,” said Nancy absently. “ I’m glad 
there are boys and girls next door, Dick, but I 
haven’t seen my room. I can’t be interested yet 
a while in anything as far away as next door.” 

No one can half see a new house by lamp-light. 
In the morning Nancy felt impelled to make the 
whole tour of inspection over again, beginning 
with her own little room, which she loved at once, 
because the bay glistened outside of one window 
and a giant cedar-tree shaded the other. As 
Nancy was dressing, a little brown bird hopped 
from the tree to her window-sill and chirped good- 
morning. 

“ Just like Camp Sixty-Nine,” smiled Nancy, 
and realized that she had actually been awake 
half an hour without once thinking of Timmy. 

Josephine’s room fronted the road. “ Mother 
offered me a new one up on the third floor,” ex- 
plained the little sister importantly, “ but I’d 
rather see who goes by. And I think, Nancy, 
that I could crawl across that piazza roof and 
shin down the post, if ever I should happen to 
want to get outdoors in a rush.” 

“ You’d better not try it,” warned Nancy se- 
verely. “ It’s much too dangerous.” 

“ Um ! ” sniffed Josephine, “ I’ll bet I wouldn’t 
fall. Good-bye ! Father’s trilling for us to go out 
in the boat.” 






NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


Nancy inspected the pretty guest-room, which 
she hoped would hold several Fair Oaks girls be- 
fore the summer was over, and then climbed up to 
the third floor, where Dick and William had their 
quarters under the eaves. You could see the 
lighthouse splendidly from up there, and there 
were cupboards in the niches below the dormer 
windows that Nancy coveted. But the cedar-tree 
didn’t grow up to the third story, and when you 
weren’t thinking, you bumped your head against 
the sloping ceilings. 

“ I should probably bump mine pretty often,” 
sighed Nancy, after one such experience, and ran 
down to say good-morning to mother. Mother’s 
room had four windows, with a porch, shaded by 
the other side of Nancy’s cedar-tree, opening out 
from one long one. 

“ That’s to be my private rest-room,” explained 
Mrs. Lee, “ where I can go when I want to be ab- 
solutely undisturbed. I’m glad you’ve come, little 
daughter, to help me take charge here. I’ve had 
rather a hard winter with Josephine’s measles and 
Billy’s teeth and Dick’s dog. But if you can be 
hands and feet and brains for me for a few weeks, 
I shall be quite ready to take hold again in time to 
start you off* for another year at school.” 

“ I will, mother. I’ll help you a lot,” promised 
Nancy enthusiastically. “ But before I can be 
18 


SUMMER PLANS 


brains for anybody, even myself, I’ve simply got 
to look around at everything here and make my- 
self understand that it’s all ours. So far I feel — 
mixed.” 

Mother laughed. “Of course you do. Look 
around all you like, and don’t hurry. Besides, I 
didn’t mean that I want you to give me all your 
time. Dick needs a jolly companion as much as I 
need a helper. He’s wandered around quite for- 
lornly, waiting for you to come and make friends 
with the young people next door. He quite de- 
pends on you to begin acquaintances for him, you 
know, Nancy.” 

“Does he?” Nancy was secretly delighted to 
find that the debonair Dick depended on her for 
anything. “ Well, I’ll try. But first I must see 
the tennis-court and the boat-house and every- 
thing else that belongs to us.” 

“ Breakfast,” suggested mother, but Nancy was 
half-way down-stairs. 

The land belonging to “The Crags” was just a 
three-acre square of unspoiled moorland, rocky, 
bushy, wooded in spots, highest by the road and 
sloping gradually down to the rocks and the water. 
Nancy easily discovered the wide path that led to 
the boat-house, the last bit being an easy flight of 
stone stairs cut down through the cliff. A nar- 
rower path branching to the left went to the ten- 

19 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

nis-court, cleverly hidden in greenery, with high 
side-nets to keep the balls within bounds. A little 
door in the wire netting let the players in and out 
of the enclosure, and there was a comfortable green 
bench for spectators or tired players. A tennis- 
court of one’s own seemed to Nancy the absolute 
height of luxury. She did wish that Dick would 
come back from fishing and play on it with her. 
Meanwhile, she explored the rocks for good seats, 
— it would be splendid to watch the sunset from 
one’s very own rocks, — returned to admire the 
tennis-court again, followed an overgrown by-path 
from there to the side fence, and stared over at the 
house next door without catching even a glimpse 
of the two handsome girls and the diving boy, 
lost the path on the way back, and discovered a 
patch of dainty cranberry vines, which seemed 
somehow as splendid to own as rocks. 

“ I’d better see how far we go on the other side,” 
considered Nancy, spying a second uncertain little 
trail that branched to the right from the boat- 
house path. “ I’m glad there’s a vacant lot on that 
side of us. I don’t want too many neighbors.” 

This little path rambled and twisted, finally 
reaching the northwest corner of “ The Crags ” 
enclosure. 

“Why, there are roses here, too!” exclaimed 
Nancy delightedly, catching a glint of scarlet 
20 


SUMMER PLANS 


along the side fence. “ Oh, and white iris I Mother 
never told me ! Oh, and ” 

With one of her impulsive little dashes, Nancy 
ran forward and up three steps into the quaintest, 
dearest little summer-house imaginable. The 
stone steps were half hidden by the bay and sweet 
fern bushes that grew close around them. The 
posts that supported the roof were all but two of 
them live tree trunks, the rustic railing between 
the posts was twined with clematis vines or 
masked in shrubbery, and the arched roof was so 
cunningly hidden under the canopy of green 
boughs that branched from the side pillars that 
you couldn’t see it at all until you actually stood 
beneath it. 

“ What an adorable summer-house ! ” cried 
Nancy. “ Just like a ” 

There facing her against a pillar was fastened a 
sign in raised gray letters stuck on a mossy plank : 
“The Birdcage.” 

“ Why, it’s exactly like a birdcage ! ” cried 
Nancy delightedly. “ Even Jane Learned couldn’t 
have found a better name for it.” 

A curving seat was built between two of the 
pillars. Between two others stood a small table, 
with a chest underneath it — a fascinating little 
chest made of white birch slabs. And it must hold 
something valuable, for it was securely padlocked. 

21 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


There were also two armchairs, in rustic style like 
all the rest of the furnishings. Nancy tried them 
both, and decided that, with cushions to pad the 
rather ridgy effect of the slab seats, they would be 
the height of comfort. One even had an adjust- 
able back, like father’s Morris chair. 

The little house was perched just above the 
rocky beach, in the very corner of the Lees’ land. 
Beyond, the ground fell sharply away on two 
sides, giving the Birdcage the effect of being hung 
very high up among the trees. Nancy drew an 
armchair close to the railing on the ocean side, 
and lay back in it to get the effect. In a minute 
voices just below her made her jump. Leaning 
cautiously forward, she could see two girls, one of 
whom she had met at the Inn last summer, clam- 
bering over the rocks beyond the fence. The va- 
cant lot had very nice rocks along its water-front. 
Nancy had often climbed about on them before 
she had rocks of her own. 

Cautiously Nancy moved back from the railing. 
“ I’d rather keep the Birdcage a secret,” she 
thought. “ I never noticed it from down there, but 
perhaps you can see it, if you know where to look. 
I’ll investigate, but not now, because that girl 
might ask me what I was looking for. To think 
that nobody told me about our Birdcage ! ” 

Back to tl*B house sped Nancy. 

22 


SUMMER PLANS 


“ Mother, why didn’t you tell me about the 
Birdcage ?” she demanded, tumbling up the 
piazza steps. 

Just outside the living-room door the table was 
spread for breakfast, and mother sat there in lonely 
state, eating a delicious-looking melon. 

“ It’s long after breakfast time,” she said, sur- 
veying her rumpled daughter rather critically. 
“ I sent Rosa to the boat-house to tell you that the 
others had eaten before they started ; but she 
couldn’t find you.” 

“ I must have been at the tennis-court or in the 
Birdcage. I’m sorry I forgot breakfast,” said 
Nancy, slipping into her seat. 

“ And what is the Birdcage ? ” asked mother. 

Nancy jumped up again. “Then you haven’t 
seen it? Nobody’s found it but me? Oh, come 
and let me show you ! Oh, I’m so glad I’ve had a 
chance to discover one of our lovely new belong- 
ings for myself.” 

“ Yes, dear. I’ll see it after breakfast.” 

Nancy sank back shamefacedly into her chair. 
It was silly to get so excited about beautiful 
things. But mother hadn’t seen it, — didn’t know 
how pretty it was nor how wonderful white irises 
can be growing against a tangle of roses that 
clamber over a rustic fence, with a Birdcage beside 
them. 


23 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


When Nancy mentioned the flowers, even 
mother got a little excited. 

“ Miss Willis told me that she had started a 
garden, but I haven’t found anything but the beds 
around the house, so I’ve had more laid out up 
here. I prefer my flowers where I can see them 
all the time.” 

“ Oh, mother ! ” Nancy had had an exciting 
idea. “ You have your own piazza, and father 
and Dick have the boat and the boat-house. Could 
I have the Birdcage for mine? I’d like to make 
green cushions for the seats, and have a green jar 
for flowers on the little table, and — oh, fix it all 
up just as I want to. Of course,” added Nancy 
hastily, “ you could all go there just the same. 
Only Bill and Joe mustn’t muss it all up, nor 
bother when the girls come to see me, and we want 
to sit out there and talk.” 

“ I think you might have the Birdcage for your 
special plaything, Nancy,” promised mother, “ un- 
less your father has designs on it, and I’m quite 
sure he knows nothing at all about it. I remem- 
ber there was a key on the bunch Miss Willis 
turned over to us marked ‘ Birdcage.’ Has your 
fascinating little house a door?” 

“ Oh, that must be the key to the birch-bark 
chest ! ” cried Nancy joyously. “ I’m so glad it’s 
not lost!” And she explained about the white 
24 


SUMMER PLANS 


birch box under the table. “ We can open it 
when you go out with me, can’t we ? What do 
you suppose is inside ? ” 

“ Bird-seed, perhaps,” suggested mother gaily. 

But it wasn’t exactly bird-seed that they found 
in the chest, — though Nancy said that mother’s 
guess was warm, since this birdcage was for hu- 
man birds, and tea is about as near as you can 
come to human bird-seed. There was a cannister 
of tea in the chest — a very festive, flower-painted 
cannister. There were also six gray-green cups 
and six saucers of Japanese china, six little wooden 
spoons, — stirring spoons, Nancy called them, since 
they were certainly too small for any other pur- 
pose, — a squatty pot, a sugar-bowl, a pitcher, and a 
plate, all gray-green like the cups, with a tiny 
wooden fork lying on the plate. 

They puzzled over the fork for some time, until 
Mrs. Lee had an inspiration ; of course it was for 
the lemon. 

Nancy arranged the tea-set on the table, and ad- 
mired it in her usual enthusiastic fashion. 

" To think how often we had tea with Miss 
Willis, and she never let us have it here ! ” she 
sighed. 

“ This was her own little private nook, I fancy,” 
said Mrs. Lee. “ Miss Willis is a very famous artist, 
you know, daughter. She probably wanted to 

25 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


keep one place all to herself, as I’m keeping my 
private piazza.” 

Nancy nodded. “ Yes, that’s it. It was too 
precious to show to anybody, except perhaps her 
very dearest friends. I think I should like to 
keep it rather secret too, mother — just for us and 
our best friends. Is the china surely ours ? Miss 
Willis didn’t forget to take it away with her ? ” 

Yes, it was surely theirs, Mrs. Lee said ; the 
sale of “ The Crags ” had included nearly all the 
furnishings. 

So the Birdcage tea-set was repacked in its chest 
and carefully locked in by Nancy, who proudly 
accepted the custodianship of the key from 
mother. 

Mrs. Lee promised to write at once for cushions 
and samples of gray-green covering, after which 
there was really nothing more to do about the 
Birdcage. So Nancy unpacked, forcing herself to 
keep at the unwelcome task until all her belong- 
ings were in apple-pie order. Then, the fishing- 
party, arriving home in a state of ravenous anxi- 
ety for luncheon, duly wondered at and admired 
Nancy’s find ; and Mr. Lee laughingly assured her 
that in their family finding was keeping — when 
mother said so. In the afternoon Dick and his 
father went off sailing again, the younger children 
vanished on mysterious business of their own, 
26 


SUMMER PLANS 


Mrs. Lee settled herself on the piazza with a book 
and some sewing, and Nancy, after her rapturous 
morning, was suddenly and fiercely assailed by 
that desolate, lost feeling that comes sometimes in 
the wake of raptures. 

She tried to read, started to go to the post-office 
with the letter about the cushions, and decided 
that it was foolish to walk so far when the mail- 
man would be along soon. She found the piazza 
sunny, the house stuffy, the Birdcage lonely. And 
so at last she burst out upon her mother with the 
question about Timmy : “ What do you suppose 
he’s doing now ? ” followed by her plaintive wail, 
“ I just can’t settle down to anything ! ” 

“ You miss Timmy and all your Fair Oaks 
friends, don’t you ? ” mother returned sympathetic- 
ally. “ Dick will be back soon, I think, for some 
tennis.” 

“ Did I tell you about Timmy’s naming-party, 
mother ? ” demanded Nancy. 

“ Yes, dear, you did. I’m almost afraid you’ve 
told me all about him. Why don’t you go down 
to the Inn ? The Minots have come, I think, 
and ” 

“ Oh, Louise Minot wouldn’t care about — I mean 
I think I won’t to-day, mother/’ 

Mother smiled again with the perfect under- 
standing she could always be relied upon for. 

2 7 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ If I were you, I should write it all down in your 
Red Journal, Nancy, all about your wonderful 
baby and his trip home.” 

“ Oh, I have, every night, so I wouldn’t forget 
anything, — not any least little thing. I promised 
the Learned twins ” 

“ Then go and write to them,” advised Mrs. Lee 
briskly. 

“Yes, mother. I’ll mail your letter with mine. 
Mine won’t be ready for the postman ; it will be 
most awfully long.” Complete satisfaction in her 
voice, Nancy was off. 

“ Dear Twins : 

“ Pine Ridge is the homeliest place you ever 
saw or dreamed of. If Timmy grows up there, he 
certainly won’t learn to be extravagant, because 
there’s nothing to spend money for. The stores 
are too little and funny for anything. There isn’t 
even a soda fountain. 

“John Smith is six feet and four inches tall and 
has nine children and four grandchildren. One, 
he says, is a caution, and one he’s never seen. He 
lives in New York most of the time, and has in- 
terests in Pine Ridge. That means he owns a lot 
of timber and all the mills at Camp Sixty-Nine 
are his. He is the funniest, most excitable old 
gentleman. He liked Jeanne best, because she let 
28 


SUMMER PLANS 


him talk at her in torrents, just saying * yes ’ and 
‘ no ’ in her sweet little voice, instead of pouring 
questions at him, as Margaret and I did. He per- 
fectly hates questions. He shakes his finger at 
you and says, ‘ One moment, madam, one mo- 
ment I We shall come to that directly I ’ At 
least he said 1 madam * to Miss Dutton and Lloyd, 
because she only interrupted once, perhaps. To 
Margaret and me he said ‘ child.’ 

“ But he made up by loving Timmy like one of 
his own grandchildren, if not more so, and he saw 
to everything for us splendidly. He must be 
pretty rich, and we’re rather afraid that he’ll want 
to steal Timmy’s education and so on away from 
Fair Oaks. We didn’t dare to ask him, because 
he hates questions so. 

“ The Rafterys are comical, too. Patrick is a 
little wiry, red-haired man, with freckles, a turned- 
up nose, and a smile that won’t come off and 
spills over on to everybody else. They keep him 
in spite of his laziness, because he makes every- 
body good-natured, and so things always run 
smoothly at Camp Sixty-Nine. He hugged Timmy 
till I thought the poor child would be smothered ; 
but he wasn’t, and he seemed to like it. Mrs. 
Raftery didn’t say much. I almost thought she 
didn’t care, until I happened to see that her eyes 
were full of tears. She knows all about babies. 

29 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


That Mrs. Sefton had her taught at a school in St. 
Louis, and she took care of three Sefton children, 
all delicate. Of course she’s busy, because she 
does the cooking and housekeeping for twenty- 
five men ; but she is the kind that can fit things 
in and get a lot done in a few minutes. She 
seemed just like the mothers of great men that 
you read about — Abraham Lincoln’s, I mean par- 
ticularly. Margaret noticed that, and Miss Dutton 
thought so too. 

“ If I were you, Jane, of course I could tell a 
romantic story of our trip; but being just Nancy 
Lee, I can only say that Timmy’s favorite block 
was lost the first time we changed cars — no, not 
by me, so don’t make hateful remarks. After 
that he would cry some, and I do think it was for- 
tunate that I went along to pacify him. Getting 
there was terribly exciting of course, and saying 
good-bye was agonizing, especially as Timmy 
wouldn’t even look at me, he was so busy pulling 
his father’s red hair. Of course I want him to be 
happy and contented in his own home, but it was 
pretty hard to be ignored like that. Such is life, 
I guess. Miss Dutton’s friend, Mrs. Watson, is as 
sweet as she can be, though she doesn’t know a 
thing about babies. She invited us all to come 
out next summer and visit her and find out for 
ourselves about Timmy. I don’t suppose I can 
30 


SUMMER PLANS 

go, but maybe Margaret or Lloyd can stop on their 
way West. 

“ Now I am at home and we have a new house 
with a lovely yard, big enough to get lost in, as I 
did when I was exploring it this morning, a ten- 
nis-court tucked away among the shrubbery, and a 
Birdcage ! You can guess all you like about that 
until you come to see it for yourselves, which I 
hope you can soon.” 

Nancy’s busy pen which had been fairly flying 
over the paper wavered and stopped. 

“ I must ask mother before I invite them,” she 
decided swiftly. “ I’m afraid I almost asked them 
to come when we said good-bye, but writing it 
down would settle it. I do hope mother isn’t feel- 
ing too tired to have company.” 

The piazza, when Nancy rushed down to it from 
her room, where she had been writing at the 
cedar-tree window, was quite empty. Mother’s 
book lay beside her work-basket on the wicker 
table. “ She didn’t come in for a hat,” reflected 
Nancy, “ so she can’t be far off*. I’ll ask Rosa if 
she saw where mother went. I do want to mail 
my letter before dinner.” 

But Rosa, who was shelling peas behind the 
lattice that divided her piazza from the family’s, 
knew nothing of her mistress’s whereabouts. 

3i 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Nancy felt that she should not have a moment's 
peace until the all-important matter of the twins’ 
visit was settled. But Mrs. Lee was not down on 
the rocks, nor could she be seen on Lighthouse 
Road, which ran straight as an arrow for a long 
way on either side of “ The Crags ” gateway. She 
might be calling next door, but Nancy fancied she 
would have dressed up, at least to the extent of 
hat and gloves, for a first call. She might be 
hunting Bill and Joe ; in which case, as Nancy 
hadn’t heard them say where they were going, she 
might be anywhere on Halcyon Point. Nancy 
considered ; it was rather a hopeless quest. 

“ When I have to hunt for them blind, I always 
try Baxter’s Reef,” she mused, “ and they’re gen- 
erally somewhere on it. I believe I’ll go there 
anyhow,” she decided swiftly, and turned off the 
main road on to a grassy lane that led away from 
the bay, past one side of Fresh Pond, and right 
across the Point to the broad ocean. 

Swinging along on the familiar road, away from 
the delightful strangeness of the new house, Nancy 
suddenly felt at home again in Halycon. Just 
beyond the turn she met two girls and a very tall 
boy strolling along single-file in a rather bored 
way. If she had been sure that they were the 
ones who belonged next door, Nancy would have 
invited them to join her in exploring Baxter’s 
32 


SUMMER PLANS 


Reef. She loved showing off the charms of Hal- 
cyon to newcomers. 

A minute later she noticed a flag flying from 
the pole at Gray Gables. “ Gray Gables ” was 
Halycon’s show-place. The estate occupied a big 
triangle where three of the Point roads intersected, 
and from its commanding position the great stone 
house overlooked the whole summer colony. It 
had been closed for years, but to-day the fluttering 
flag certainly suggested tenants. Yes, a motor 
was chugging impatiently at the ca riage entrance. 

“ More new people to find out about I ” exulted 
Nancy. “ I hope it’s a nice jolly family our ages. 
I wonder if mother or Dick have discovered who 
they are.” 

All Nancy’s habitual interest in everything and 
everybody around her had returned. She ran 
down to Fresh Pond to admire the water-lilies, 
and finding one alluringly near the bank, almost 
fell in trying to pluck it. She made a detour to 
inspect two new houses that had been barely begun 
the fall before. People were living in one of them 
now — more possibilities. She stopped to exchange 
enthusiastic greetings with an Inn girl she had 
played tennis with once or twice, a year ago. 
Hidden behind a tall hedge, she watched the two 
funny little old maids, who lived, in the tiny white 
cottage beyond Fresh Pond, start out for their 
33 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


daily constitutional with Ginger, their big tiger 
cat, tagging at their heels. 

Finally a short-cut across the moor brought 
her out on Surf Road just opposite the looming 
pile of Baxter’s Reef. Nothing to be seen of Bill 
and Joe or of mother ; but Nancy didn’t care. 
The sea was so blue and sparkly, with white crests 
of foam breaking along the shore. The Reef was 
so big and splendid, the tide-pools so inviting. 
Nancy drew a long breath and started down the 
bank to the stone causeway, the natural bridge 
that led out from the beach to Baxter’s. Gaily 
she skipped from stone to stone, stopping now and 
then to choose her way. Oh, it was good to be 
alive, to be young, to tramp, to climb, to be out in 
the sun and the wind, to smell the sea ! It was 
going to be a splendid, splendid summer ! Nancy’s 
last jump landed her at the foot of the great rock. 
Sure-footed as a goat in her rubber-soled shoes, she 
ran up the steep side of the cliff and stood exult- 
ant on the topmost crag, drinking in the beauty 
of sea and shore and moorland. 

“ Nobody else out here, I’m glad to say. I love 
to haVe it all to myself! ” Nancy danced out on 
the rock’s projecting nose and curled up in her 
favorite seat on^a narrow shelf above a big tide- 
pool, full of waving seaweed. 

Yee, ft was going to be a splendid summer, with 
34 


SUMMER PLANS 


the new house to enjoy, mother to help, Dick to 
be company for, new friendships to make and old 
ones to strengthen. All summers at Halcyon were 

pleasant, but this one 

“ Is that a sea-anemone ? ” demanded Nancy 
aloud, squinting at a pinky-white object in the 
bottom of the pool below her, and promptly she 
slid down to investigate. 


CHAPTER II 
everything’s spoiled ! 

" Whu-whu ! How do I get down there where 
you are ? ” 

It was a sea-anemone that Nancy’s sharp eyes 
had discovered on the edge of her favorite tide- 
pool : a lovely big, pinky-white anemone, and 
beside it were two baby ones, deep orange and pale 
violet respectively. Nancy rolled up her sleeve 
and stuck her hand into the water, touching the 
queer flower-like tentacles gently, watching them 
curl up tight as they scented danger, and slowly 
unfold again when nothing disastrous happened. 
Anemones were getting very rare at Halcyon. 
Nancy resolved not to show this cluster to Bill 
and Joe, who, with the best intentions, might 
handle the dainty things too roughly. 

And then, at the call from above, Nancy stood 
up swiftly, frowning a little at this summary 
invasion of her happy privacy. Far up on the top 
of the big pile of rock stood a girl about Nancy’s 
age — a little brown gypsy thing, in a tan linen 
dress, the skirt of which fluttered and flapped 
36 


EFERTTHING'S SPOILED! 


around her in the sea-wind. Her sandy hair blew 
too, right across her face, so that she looked all 
one color, as if she had been fashioned out of the 
great brown rock on which she stood. Nancy was 
sure that she had never seen the girl before, and 
she felt a little annoyed at the stranger’s calm 
assumption that she was wanted down below. 
Still, if she was new to Halcyon and to the joys 
of Baxter’s Reef, and if she wanted to go out as 
far as one could but wasn’t very good at exploring 
rocks, Nancy was only too glad to help her. 

“ Are your shoes rubber-soled ? ” she called up 
to the interloper. 

“ No, they’re not,” sang back the girl. “ And 
they slip fearfully.” 

“ Then you’d better go round to your right and 
come down by the crevice you’ll see there,” advised 
Nancy. “ I’ll meet you at the bottom and show 
you how I got out here.” 

“ But I shan’t show her the anemones ! ” added 
Nancy to herself, running easily up the curving 
back of the cliff to the place where the crevice, 
with its footholds and its walls to steady oneself 
by, ended. The strange girl was there before her. 

“Jump across to where I am,” advised Nancy, 
stretching out her hand. 

“ Oh, thank you ! ” panted the other girl, land- 
ing lightly beside Nancy and swaying a little to 
37 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


get her balance. “ Isn’t this the loveliest place ? 
I hope you didn’t mind my calling down to you, 
but you see I’ve only a minute to stay, and I felt 
as if I must , simply must get down to the very tip 
end of things I I could have found the way my- 
self, but I hadn’t the time to poke around.” 

As she spoke, she pushed the sandy locks back 
from her freckled brown face and turned it toward 
Nancy, and then Nancy saw that the strange girl’s 
eyes were brown too, and that they were the 
biggest, brightest, most beautiful eyes that she had 
ever seen. They flamed with life, they danced 
with happiness, and their sparkling, flashing 
radiance called to Nancy as plainly as if the words 
had been shouted in her ear. “ Let’s be happy 
together ! ” said those bright, brown eyes. “ I like 
you, and you’ll like me. Isn’t this a wonderful, 
beautiful world ! ” 

Without an instant’s hesitation Nancy answered 
the eyes. “ If you can’t stay long, come first and 
look at some sea-anemones that I’ve just discovered, 
and then perhaps we can find starfish out in that 
biggest pool. But the anemones are much rarer.” 

“ Oh, I never hoped to see anything half so 
lovely 1 ” sighed the strange girl, creeping after 
Nancy down to the favorite pool. “ Oh, the 
dears ! ” The wonderful eyes grew softer and 
brighter. “ May I really touch them ? I’ve 
38 


EVERYTHING'S SPOILED! 


never been to the seashore before, you see, and I 
find it all so fascinating. I suppose you come 
every summer and can wander all day long on the 
rocks.” 

Nancy explained her status at Halcyon, point- 
ing out the location of “ The Crags ” and adding 
her name. 

“ Mine is Hope Haskins,” the little brown girl 
explained in her turn. “ I live in Vermont at a 
place called Sherwin Corners. It’s not really a 
town, just a few houses. And here, I’m at the 
Inn, waiting on table. I just love being here I ” 
The brown eyes flamed into sudden rapture. “ I 
love the sea, and the Inn is so pretty, and the 
ladies who stay there wear such lovely clothes. 
And I think I'm going to like being at ‘ The Sign 
of the Dolphin’ almost the best of all.” 

11 What is it that you like best ? ” asked Nancy 
curiously. 

“ Oh, don’t you know ? ” The eyes were pools 
of rapture. “ Then I can help by telling you, and 
that will repay Miss Willis for letting me off early 
to-day. People have to know about it, you see — 
lots of people — or it won’t be a success. ‘The 
Sign of the Dolphin ’ is a shop where you can 
have tea and buy all sorts of pretty things. It’s 
over the other side of the golf course, and there 
are signs, along the road to help you find it. Will 
39 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


you come there soon, and will you tell your friends 
to come ? It’s a sweet little shop.” 

Nancy promised. “ When are you there ? I’d 
rather come then.” 

“ Oh, thank you for that ! ” cried Hope Haskins 
joyously. “ I’m there Tuesday, Thursday, and Sat- 
urday afternoons, from two until almost five. 
Those are my afternoons off at the Inn, you see. I 
have to be back by five to set my tables, but it 
only takes a minute to go, if you run.” 

“ But if you work at this shop on your after- 
noons off, when can you come out on the rocks ? ” 
inquired Nancy earnestly. “ Do you have some 
mornings off too ? ” 

The brown eyes grew sorrowful. “ Oh, no, morn- 
ings are fearfully busy. I can come just at odd 
times like this, and on one whole Sunday a 
month. I’m praying that it won’t rain on any of 
my Sundays. I did hate to give up the afternoons, 
but you see there’s all that extra money. I want 
the extra money more than anything.” 

“ Oh, yes,” said Nancy vaguely, not knowing 
what else to say without appearing either indiffer- 
ent or curious. 

“ For college, you know,” explained Hope, her 
eyes flaming again with eagerness. “ With the 
extra money from Miss Willis I’m almost sure 
that I can go this fall. Oh, I’m afraid I’ve talked 
40 


EVER V T H I N G* S SPOILED! 


to you too long ! I mustn’t be late back, because 
that wouldn’t be fair.” 

Nancy consulted her wrist-watch. “ You can 
get to the Inn by five, if you hurry a little. I’ll 
show you the easiest way back to the road. And 
some day I hope we can have another talk.” 

“ Really ? Oh, thank you for that ! ” The 
brown eyes danced with delight. “And you 
mustn’t pity me too much for having to hurry 
home. Each time that I have to rush away from 
the moor and the rocks, after just a tantalizing 
glimpse of them — like to-day — I console myself 
by thinking how much more I love it all than I 
should, maybe, if I could stay as long as I liked 
and see everything that I want to. Now,” — she 
waved back at the Reef, — “ I feel as if I’d left all 
sorts of beautiful mysteries behind.” 

“ I should just feel as if I wanted dreadfully to 
stay longer,” said practical Nancy. 

“ Oh, then you don’t understand ! ” Hope faced 
her firmly. “ It’s like — why, it’s like this little 
glimpse we two have had of each other. We’ve 
very likely had a much better time — a more thrill- 
ing time — because it’s been so short, and because 
we’ve left so much over. You think, maybe, that 
you haven’t discovered all the things in me that 
you’d like, and I’m sure I haven’t in you.” 

“ Oh, so am I sure about you,” declared Nancy 

41 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

earnestly, smiling straight into the glad brown 
eyes. 

The causeway in sight, Hope held out her little 
brown hand in farewell. “I’m all right now. 
Don’t you waste a minute more away from the 
pools and the spray. And do come soon to * The 
Sign of the Dolphin.’ ” 

Nancy watched the little figure hopping from 
stone to stone on its way to the mainland, swaying 
and slipping uncertainly because of the smooth- 
soled shoes. A nondescript little figure, rather 
dumpy and altogether without distinction, until 
you saw those shining eyes. Nancy considered ; 
this was Tuesday ; on Thursday she would go to 
“ The Sign of the Dolphin.” Meanwhile, it 
looked rather bleak and lonely out on the Reef, 
and yet she longed for one last look at the anem- 
ones. The tide was rising now, and the spray 
dashed up gloriously against the lower rocks of the 
Reef. Nancy lingered on and on, for just one 
more big wave, and then for just one more. 

Compared to their other house, “The Crags” 
was no distance at all from Baxter’s; but when 
Nancy finally turned a resolute back on the fasci- 
nating surf, dinner time was perilously near, and 
the causeway, which at high tide was often im- 
passable, was getting very watery indeed. Who 
cared? Wet rocks and slimy seaweed had 
42 


no 



< < 


i’m 


ALL RIGHT NOW ” 


f 
























































































- 











































EVERTTHING'S SPOILED! 


terrors for rubber-shod climbers, particularly if 
they . also possessed Nancy Lee’s happy-go-lucky 
nature. However, that very big pool spreading 
across the middle of the causeway must be some- 
how avoided. Her eyes far ahead of her steps, 
her hungry thoughts on dinner, with a tennis 
match to follow, and perhaps an evening call on 
the girls next door, — who wouldn’t be half so fas- 
cinating as brown-eyed Hope Haskins, — Nancy 
Lee stubbed her toe as she started down the last 
steep pitch from the Reef to the causeway level, 
lost her balance, careered down over a dampish, 
slippery stone, and landed in a shaken, bunchy 
heap on a patch of wet sand. 

“ Clumsy ! ” Nancy apostrophized herself, dis- 
entangling her muddied shirts from around her 
feet. “ O-ouch I ” 

Instead of scrambling up as she intended, Nancy 
sank back again, this time in a very abject, white- 
faced, frightened heap indeed. After a minute’s 
rest, she hitched alongside a big stone, and hang- 
ing to it with both hands tried again to stand up. 
But before she had fairly pulled herself erect, she 
sat abruptly back on the big stone. 

“ I’ve done it now ! ” said Nancy Lee to the 
rocks, the sea, and the distant moorland. 

A little wave plopped saucily up over the soft 
sand at Nancy’s feet. 


43 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ In a minute I shall be all right,” Nancy Lee 
announced loudly to the dusking landscape. Say- 
ing this made her feel as if it might be true, and 
she certainly needed all possible aid toward keeping 
up her courage and ignoring a horrid, sickening 
pain in her right ankle. This pain made her feel 
rather faint, so she bent forward a little, as she had 
been taught one should do under such circum- 
stances at the First Aid classes held by Timmy’s 
nurse at Fair Oaks School, and clutched hard at 
the rock she was sitting on. Hanging on tight had 
not been mentioned in the First Aid classes, but it 
certainly did help you not to want to cry out. 

“Somebody will be along in a few minutes,” de- 
clared Nancy Lee with assurance. “ Surf Road is 
always full of people on a lovely day like this. I 
could walk if somebody would just help me a little 
about starting.” 

Except when Nancy Lee broke it to soliloquize, 
the silence of Baxter’s Reef was oppressive. The 
wind was sinking with the sun, and the roar of the 
surf had softened to a padding thud. But the tide 
was rising fast. As a matter of course now, the 
waves splashed softly over the strip of sand around 
Nancy’s seat. She hitched along on her rock and 
managed to find a dry niche half-way up it for her 
feet to rest on. Where were all the people who 
ought to be out walking or driving in the cool 
44 


EVERTTHING'S SPOILED! 


of the afternoon? A crowd of them must come 
in sight in a minute. 

" They’ll be sure to hear me over on the road,” 
Nancy assured herself earnestly. “ It’s not far 
across — only I should like to get over there while 

the going’s good, as Dick says. This tide ” 

She broke off to call loudly as a motor whizzed 
unexpectedly by on the road ; but its occupants 
paid not the slightest heed to Nancy’s shouting. 

“ Next time I’ll call ‘ Help,’ ” she decided, and 
she did, but what with the sea, now getting noisy 
again, the chug of the motor, and their own gay 
talk and laughter, this motor party, too, heard 
nothing. 

Then two women strolled past along the road, 
and again Nancy’s cry for help went unregarded. 
The road was really a long way off, with high 
bushes edging the bank that dropped off toward 
the Reef ; and the wind was wrong. 

“ If I can’t walk, I’ve just got to crawl,” de- 
claimed Nancy rather shakily, and set about doing 
it. If she could get to the road before dark, some 
rescuer would surely appear ! 

Crawling over wet rocks is a slow and absorb- 
ing process. Nancy kept at it for some minutes, 
till her skirts were wringing wet and her knees 
much the worse for wear, while the road was not 
appreciably nearer. In trying to stand up and 
45 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


pick the best way around the pool that had flooded 
the middle of the causeway, she wrenched her bad 
ankle painfully. When she sat down again to rest 
it, a big salt tear splashed down to join a big 
wave, which caught Nancy unprepared and soaked 
her to her waist. With a sudden realization that 
her plight was really serious, Nancy picked up a 
piece of driftwood to use as a cane and in spite of 
the almost unbearable pain it cost her, limped for- 
ward toward the mainland. Her head down the 
better to breast the waves, her senses dulled by the 
throbbing pain, her mind intent on one thing — to 
get beyond the reach of this black, rushing water 
that deepened around her every minute — she 
neither saw nor heard the approach of a fellow- 
traveler. 

A boy had turned off the shore road and paused 
a moment on the Reef path to stare down at the 
half inundated causeway. Then, whistling gaily, 
he ran briskly forward to the water’s edge and be- 
gan a reckless, tumultuous progress, marked by 
leaps and bounds that carried him dry-shod along 
the watery pathway, his only pauses being just the 
length of a swiftly appraising glance to measure 
the direction of the big reef. 

Just before he reached Nancy, his foot set a loose 
stone noisily flying, and Nancy, straightening 
laboriously, saw him coming. 

46 


E V ER T THING'S SPOILED! 


“ Oh ! ” she cried, in an involuntary sigh of relief. 

Her exclamation gave the sure-footed boy such 
a start that he lost his footing and stumbled igno- 
miniously into the big pool, whence he stood, knee- 
deep in the water and hatless, staring amazedly at 
the rumpled, soaked, wind-blown, white-faced girl, 
hanging desperately to a weather-worn stick of 
wood and staring forlornly back at him from 
behind a tangle of damp yellow curls. 

For a minute the two stared in amazed silence. 
Then, “ Pardon me ! ” said the boy, who was a 
pleasant-faced, manly-looking fellow about Dick’s 
age ; and blushing furiously at having, as he would 
have expressed it, “ run down ” a strange girl, he 
stooped for his cap, flicked the water off the rough 
green cloth, jammed it back on his bare head, and 
started off again faster than ever. 

11 Oh, please ! ” begged Nancy swiftly, “ oh, 
please will you help me a little ? I’ve hurt my 
ankle and I’m trying to get back to the road. It’s 
awfully hard work going over these wet stones.” 

Without hesitation the boy wheeled, and blush- 
ing harder than ever faced Nancy. “ What a 
mess ! ” he said cheerfully. He pulled off his wet 
cap, shook it again, and then carefully wiped off a 
tiny green feather that was stuck in the band. 
“ Crickets ! ” He surveyed the darkening land- 
scape anxiously. “ There’s nobody else you can 
47 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


ask, is there ? You see I — it’s not that I wouldn’t 
be glad to help you, only there’s a reason why I — 
prefer that you’d ask some one else.” 

“ But how can I ? ” demanded Nancy desper- 
ately. il Nobody else came. Nobody up on the 
road heard.” Pride suddenly overwhelmed her. 
“ But I can go on alone perfectly well,” she as- 
sured him coldly. “ Please don’t trouble. Please 
go on to wherever you were going.” 

“ Shucks ! ” said the boy. “ Of course I’ll help 

you back. I only thought— I only meant 

But as it is, I’m bound to help you. Nobody 
could expect me not to. Oh, I know we couldn’t 
keep it up ! We’re not the kind to keep it up.” 

“ What did you say ? ” asked Nancy, a little 
frightened at his incoherence. “ I don’t believe I 
understood.” 

“ Oh, I was only talking to myself,” explained 
the boy with a sigh. “ I’ve got the habit lately.” 
He smiled a friendly smile at Nancy. “ Now, 
how am I to help?” he demanded, once more 
putting on the damp green cap and facing her 
with businesslike alertness. 

“ Oh, not at all, please,” begged Nancy who, 
having prepared to swallow her pride, was now 
remembering all mother’s warnings against speak- 
ing to strange men. This boy looked nice, but his 
talk was certainly queer and rambling. “ Please 

48 


EVERT T H I N G’S SPOILED 


go on,” she besought him earnestly, trying not to 
act as frightened and miserable as she felt. 

“ Oh, shucks ! ” repeated the boy pleasantly. 
“ You mustn’t mind what I said. Of course I 
want to help you, and I’m going to, too. Only I 
can’t without talking to you, and that’s — well, I 
simply can’t explain. But I’ll tell you one thing. 
At high tide this is going to be a very wet spot, 
and high tide isn’t far off. The longer we delay, 
the worse everything will get — everything, includ- 
ing your ankle,” he concluded with decision. 
‘‘So we’d better just get started.” 

“ All right,” agreed Nancy weakly. 

The boy nodded approval. “ Now how shall 
we work it ? Take my arm, so. No, I’d better 
take your arm. Try putting a hand on my 
shoulder. Then, if I steady you, you can sort 
of hop along, mostly on your well foot. We can’t 
bother about keeping entirely out of the water, 
I’m afraid. I say, I’ll bet that foot hurts you 
pretty badly. Whenever you want to rest, just 
say so.” 

They made the road in three laps, as the boy 
called the three stages of the journey between 
halts for rest. And when they had climbed the 
path, and Nancy was sitting down once more, this 
time on a comfortable dry stone by the side of 
Surf Road, the boy, looking back, announced that 
49 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


the water was at least waist-high out where he 
and Nancy had joined forces. 

“ So I shan’t go back there to-night, thank 
you,” he announced cheerfully. “ I’d planned 
to get out just before high tide and come back 
by the light of my trusty lantern ” — he displayed 
a tiny electric “ bug-light ” — “ about nine o’clock. 
I liked the idea of being caught by the tide after 
dark — on purpose.” 

“ I’m sorry ” began Nancy. 

“Shucks! I can do it just as well to-morrow, 
can’t I ? ” broke in the boy. “ Now where do you 
live?” 

Nancy explained. “ If you’d just telephone my 
family when you get home, I should be very grate- 
ful to you. I don’t believe I can walk any far- 
ther, and besides, I don’t wish to trouble you any 
more than I’ve had to already.” Nancy tried to 
combine dignity with gratitude. 

“ Very well,” said the boy briskly. “ If that’s 
what you want, I’ll do it. I hope you’re not laid 
up for long with your sprain. Good-bye.” Sud- 
denly he wheeled and came back to Nancy. 
“ Sure you’re not afraid to stay alone ? ” he de- 
manded. “ It’s getting sort of dusky. You’d 
better keep my bug-light in case of accidents.” 

“ Oh, no,” demurred Nancy. “ They won’t be 
long coming. I’m all right, truly I am.” 

50 


EVERYTHING'S SPOILED! 


“Just the same, I’ll bet that ankle is aching 
like a house afire. If you weren’t an awfully 
good sport, you’d be weeping or fainting away or 
some other such girl’s doings. I say, — your 
idea’s no go. I’m going to do this the quickest 
way I can, to suit myself. I won’t be a minute.” 

Too faint and dizzy to care what he meant or to 
notice which way he was going, Nancy sat on her 
stone in a daze of frightened, throbbing misery. 
Nobody came by ; nothing happened ; surely it 
was ages and ages and ages, as little Sarah used to 
say at school, before there was a brisk hail down the 
road, and the boy turned a curveting bay horse, 
hitched to a trim road-cart, up to Nancy’s stone. 

“ There 1 How’s this for a hurry call?” he de- 
manded triumphantly. Evidently he thought, 
poor fellow, that he had been quick ! “ You see,” 

he went on, “ we live so near, and I knew Lady'd 
be all hitched in, ready to go to town for the even- 
ing papers, so I disregarded your suggestion — 
that is, I had your family notified that you’d be 
along in a few minutes. Hope you don’t mind 
my coming back for you. Lady’s pretty fresh. 
I’m afraid you’ll have to climb in somehow, while 
I try to hold her quiet. Oh, I’ll bet that hurt ! ” 
as a sudden side-step of Lady’s threw Nancy hard 
down on the lame ankle. “ But it’s all plain sail- 
ing now. Where do you live ? Yes, ‘ The Crags ’ ; 

5i 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


but remember I don’t know where anything is 
here. Just tell me which turns to make, as we 
come to them. I am certainly sorry that Lady 
jumped at the wrong minute. Now please to 
keep on being the best sport ever, and don’t faint 
or anything like that, till I get you home.” 

Mr. Lee was standing in the gate of “ The Crags ” 
watching for them. Nancy smiled at him faintly. 
“ If you could help me out ! I’ve done some- 
thing ” 

“ You’d better just carry her in,” advised the 
boy calmly. “ She’s been very plucky, but she’s 
about done for now.” 

Mrs. Lee came out to thank Nancy’s rescuer. 
“ It was very kind of you to bring my daughter 
home, and you were very thoughtful to prepare us 
for her arrival. I suppose you’re one of my boy 
Dick’s friends. I’m very bad at remembering faces.” 

The boy stared non-committally back at her. 
“ No,” he said, " I’m a stranger here. I just 
happened to be around. I — got into it that way. 
And now I must be going. They’ll want Lady. 
And besides ” 

“ Come and see us,” Mrs. Lee urged hospitably, 
as the bay horse started. “ We’re very grateful. 
Won’t you tell me your ” 

“You’re quite welcome, I’m sure,” cut in the 
boy curtly, and off he went at a smart trot. 

52 


EVERYTHING'S SPOILED! 


“ Crickets ! I knew we’d never pull it off,” he 
muttered as he whirled into the crossroad. “ I 
told her we weren’t cut out for hermits. What a 
mess ! Well, I certainly couldn’t help it. I never 
can. Neither can she. That’s the whole trouble.” 
And he lapsed into gloomy silence. 

“ It’s a very bad sprain. You’ll be laid up for 
some time, young woman,” said the doctor unfeel- 
ingly, giving Nancy’s ankle a final pat and picking 
up his medicine-bag. 

“How long is some time?” demanded Nancy 
tremulously. 

“Oh, a month or six weeks, I should say. 
Good-night. I’ll look in to-morrow.” 

Nancy didn’t want any dinner. She didn’t 
feel like talking. She refused mother’s suggestion 
about reading aloud. The Red Journal was on 
the table by her bed. She reached for it, dated a 
new page, and straight across it in a bold hand she 
wrote : 

“ Everything’s spoiled. — N. Le£.” 

All through a sleepless, feverish, tossing, miser- 
able night she kept saying it over to herself : 
“ Everything's spoiled, spoiled, spoiled. My lovely 
summer, all the things I’d planned, all my help- 
ing mother, all my fun, the twins’ visit, — spoiled, 
spoiled, spoiled. Everything’s spoiled I ” 


53 


CHAPTER III 

“ YOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT ! ” 

The little brown bird, singing gaily in Nancy’s 
cedar- tree, roused her from a troubled nap the next 
morning. Such a gorgeous day ! Father and 
Dick were down on the piazza already, eating an 
early breakfast before their morning fishing trip. 
Bouncings and bumpings from Josephine’s room 
announced that that noisy young lady was hurry- 
ing through her toilette, preparatory to joining the 
sailors. Something was on Nancy’s mind — a vague 
weight of unhappiness left, perhaps, from a bad 
dream. Something disagreeable seemed to be hang- 
ing over her. It couldn’t be anything real 

Oh, but it was 1 Nancy buried her hot face in her 
hot pillow and wept. That was how mother found 
her, when she came up with breakfast and a bunch 
of dewy white irises, as lovely as orchids, from the 
Birdcage bed. 

“ I c-can’t help it ! ” sobbed Nancy. “ I c-can’t 
stand it to stick around here for s-s-six weeks ! 
No, my ankle doesn’t h-h-h-urt at all. I know I 
could walk on it. That doctor isn’t any good at 
54 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT !” 


all I Oh, mother, I never was so unhappy in my 
whole life ! ” 

Mother consoled and sympathized, and finally 
resorted to a gentle scolding, which dried Nancy’s 
tears and left her silent, sulky, and unresponsive. 
No, she did not want the Spoiled Kitten on the 
bed with her. The collie must be sent outdoors, 
where he belonged. Of course Dick was not to 
give up his sailing lesson with Captain Baker to 
stay and teach her a new solitaire. She hated 
solitaire, and Bill and Joe chattered and ran about 
so that they tired her head. The doctor came, 
and at sight of him Nancy wept afresh, whereupon 
he patted her shoulder comfortingly, and promised 
to send out a nurse to bathe and rub and bandage 
the injured ankle. 

Under any other circumstances Nancy would 
have been tremendously interested in Nurse 
Marston, who came from Nova Scotia, looked 
adorably pretty in her starched blue and white 
uniform, and was very jolly and talkative, pre- 
pared to amuse her sad young patient with merry 
badinage or romantic tales of Evangeline’s land, 
according to taste. But Nancy received jokes and 
stories alike in glum, forbidding silence, and 
Nurse Marston, being very young and not partic- 
ularly patient, privately decided that her charge 
was extremely ill-tempered, and after the first 
55 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


few visits confined her ministrations strictly to 
bathing, rubbing, and bandaging, according to 
orders. 

“ Suppose I ask Louise Minot to come and see 
you,” suggested mother on the fourth day of 
Nancy’s captivity. 

Mr. Lee had left for home that morning, and 
before his departure he had summoned Dick, 
William, and Josephine to the Birdcage for a 
fatherly talk. They must remember, he urged, 
that their mother was quite worn out already, and 
they must help her in any way they could. It 
was not Nancy’s fault that instead of being a help 
she was an added burden on mother’s shoulders. 
The others, and particularly Dick, who was the 
man of the house in his father’s absence, must see 
to it that this burden should rest as lightly as 
possible. It was their business, not mother’s, to 
entertain Nancy. They must divide up the time, 
sacrificing some pleasures, and trying hard to 
make the da}^s shorter for poor Nancy, and as full 
as possible of rest and recreation for mother. 
Otherwise, — Mr. Lee shook his head soberly. 

“ We couldn’t get on without mother,” he said. 
“ We must all look out for her in every possible 
way. Nancy feels this. It accounts for her being 
so blue — the regret that she can’t offer the help 
that mother had hoped for from her.” 

56 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT!” 


“ Nancy said she cried ’cause she can’t play 
tennis,” interposed the accurate Josephine. 

“ Oh, well, girls cry about lots of things,” an- 
nounced conciliatory William. “ But we’ll amuse 
her. Maybe mother’ll let us sit up longer, now 
we’ve got to help.” 

As a result of this family conference, Josephine 
had nobly deprived herself of seeing her father off 
at the station, and now, after luncheon, Dick was 
taking his turn, trying hard to keep his mind on 
cribbage, while his eyes wandered off to the sparkly 
waters of the bay. They were having yacht races 
out there, and Captain Baker had promised to take 
Dick out to see the finish. Perhaps, if Billy re- 
membered to come back for his turn, promptly at 
four 

“ Your game,” said Dick briskly, as if he had 
no thoughts for anything beyond the cribbage 
board. “ And that finishes the rubber of rubbers. 
If you did want to see Louise Minot, Sis, I could 
leave word at the Inn when I go down to the 
captain’s wharf.” 

11 1 don't. She’s no fun,” said sulky Nancy. 

Mother and Dick exchanged discouraged glances. 

“ Suppose I went to call next door, and asked 
the girls there to come over ? ” suggested Mrs. Lee 
pleasantly. “They’re strangers, and I think 
they'd enjoy ” 


57 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


Nancy shook her curly head. 11 No. I couldn’t 
think of anything to say to strange girls. Besides, 
it’s hot and stuffy up here. They’d hate having 
to be indoors. I met Charlotte Carter yesterday 
and she told me their names : Alexandra and 
Cecilia. They sound awfully fussy and stuck up.” 

“ They look jolly,” said Dick, his longing eyes 
fixed on the rippling sea. 

“ Well, I don’t want them.” Nancy’s lips set 
in a disagreeable line. “ I don’t want anybody.” 

“ I’ll tell you what,” suggested Dick, spurred on 
to tremendous efforts by the sight of the dis- 
couraged droop of mother’s shoulders. “ I know 
what’ll amuse you, — as soon as your crutches 
come, and you can hop down-stairs. I’ll hunt up 
the Green Knight and see if I can’t get him over 
here for tennis, followed by a polite call on the 
invalid.” 

“ The Green Knight ? ” queried Nancy listlessly. 

“ Father called your rescuer that,” explained 
mother. “ Don’t you remember I told you how 
he ran off without even giving us his name ? So 
we christened him after his green cap, with the 
tiny green feather in it.” She turned to Dick. 
“ I wish you would hunt him up, son. I want to 
thank him a little more formally for all his kind- 
ness. I can’t bear to think of what might have 
happened if he hadn’t come along when he did.” 

58 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT !” 


“ He certainly was the queerest boy,” said Nancy, 
just a little interested at last. “He said such 
funny things, and then he wouldn’t explain them.” 

“ Not all there, maybe,” suggested Dick, tapping 
his forehead significantly. 

“Oh, Dick!” Nancy was quite indignant. 
“ He was as bright as — as you are, and a splendid 
climber, and most of the time he was talkative and 
jolly. He couldn’t have been nicer, except just 
at first. I told you what he said as nearly as I 
could remember.” 

Dick nodded. “ Well, he was queer again just 
at the last. No reason at all for a nice jolly boy 
to have been so stuffy with mother. You don’t 
know where he lives ? ” 

Nancy did not. “ Only it’s very near Baxter’s 
Reef — nearer than we are.” 

“ Queer,” mused Dick. “ I haven’t seen him 
since that night. He doesn’t seem to go swim- 
ming or sailing with the crowd, and he never loafs 
around with the other fellows that belong on the 
Point. I’ve asked lots of ’em if they know him. 
Nobody has as much as set eyes on any one of his 
description ” 

“ Well, you'll have to look up the mysterious 
Green Knight,” said mother cheerfully, grateful 
for the faint spark of interest that the subject had 
evoked from her moody daughter. “ In the mean- 
59 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


time, Dick, run along to your boat-races. As 
Nancy can’t think of anybody she wants a visit 
from, why, we two will do our best to amuse each 
other.” 

“ No indeed.” Dick’s air of responsibility was 
comical. 11 You’re to have a nap and a walk 
every afternoon, madam. Doctor’s orders and 
mine. I’m going out later, perhaps. These races 
don’t amount to much.” 

“ All the same,” Nancy informed him rather 
crossly, “ you’re dying to be out watching them. 
You didn’t half count your cribs, you were so 
busy looking out the window. So go along, and 
you too, mother. I shall take a nap.” Nancy 
tossed two extra pillows on a chair, readjusted 
the one remaining, and summarily closed the ar- 
gument by turning her face to the wall. She had 
not taken a daytime nap since her baby days, and 
hitherto, since her accident, she had irritably re- 
fused even to try that method of passing the time. 
She had no intention of trying now. As soon as 
Dick had gone and mother’s door was safety closed, 
she would put back her extra pillows and read. 
The doctor had told her not to use her eyes very 
much, and she had already spent most of the 
morning over a book, to avoid playing parchesi, a 
game which she particularly disliked, with Jo- 
sephine, who adored it. But who cared for that ? 

60 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT !” 


Nancy Lee certainly had no idea of bothering 
about an incapable doctor’s silly notions. 

However, before she could safely begin to read, 
she had to wait while Dick and mother held a 
whispered conference in the hall. Then mother 
tiptoed back to adjust the curtains, after which she 
annoyingly delayed settling down for her own 
nap. Nancy listened to her stealthy movements 
in the next room, wondered if she dared stop play- 
ing ’possum before mother had lain down, and 
decided against it, since the one thing she most 
wanted was, not a chance to finish a rather stupid 
story, but just to be let alone. 

Nancy did sincerely regret giving her tired 
mother so much extra trouble. She honestly 
wanted to cause her as little anxiety as possible. 
Every morning, when she woke up, she resolved 
to try to be cheerful ; but the sight of mother’s 
pitying face, Dick’s unwonted consideration for 
her, the children’s clumsy efforts to amuse, — in- 
stead of comforting her, only made her more mis- 
erable. She pitied herself, with mother ; realized, 
with Dick, all the jolly times she was missing ; 
irritably decided that it was only fair for the chil- 
dren to do everything they could for her. So the 
very things that should have made her cheerful 
and considerate filled her contrary little soul with 
misery, and before she knew it cross words and 
61 


NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


black looks had torn her good resolutions to tat- 
ters again. 

But now, left to herself, with nobody to listen 
to her grumblings or pet her if she cried, Nancy 
felt neither like crying nor grumbling. Her eyes 
shut lest mother should reappear without warning, 
she speculated quite happily about the queer 
Green Knight, reviewed her talk with brown-eyed 
Hope Haskins, and wondered when she should see 
either of her new friends again. If only Hope 
could come to see her, Nancy thought, they could 
find plenty to talk about ; but Hope couldn’t come 
of course ; she was too busy. 

“ Maybe she might be able to get off some day 
when it rains,” Nancy decided finally. “ On 
rainy days nobody would go to ‘ The Sign of the 
Dolphin ' for tea, so the woman there wouldn’t 
need her, and Hope wouldn’t care about going to 
the rocks. I’d like to show her my tree and my 
view. I wonder if she has a nice room at the 
Inn. I suppose waitresses generally have to 
take ” 

Drowsy from having read all the morning and 
from the midday heat, worn out with all her 
worries and tears and rebellions, Nancy snuggled 
down on her pillows and her thoughts trailed 
wearily off into a happy little dream. 

Presently mother, who couldn’t sleep at all 
62 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT /” 


with her unhappy daughter on her mind, crept 
to the door, and smiled delightedly at what she 
saw. 

Now she would go for her walk ; she must keep 
herself as fresh as possible for Nancy. So, instruct- 
ing Rosa to answer the invalid’s bell, but on no 
account to disturb her unless she rang, Mrs. Lee 
went happily off. The afternoon breeze sprang up 
from the sea to cool the sleeper’s hot cheeks and 
make her nap more refreshing. In the quiet 
house, empty save for soft-footed, listening Rosa, 
Nancy slept on and on. It was late afternoon 
when she woke up, stretched deliciously, blinking 
in the strong light, and suddenly gave vent to a 
startled “ Oh ! ” at sight of a perfectly strange 
lady standing at the foot of her bed. 

“ Well, I am relieved,” said the visitor, smiling 
sociably and flitting round to the side of the bed. 
“ I just couldn’t make up my mind to wake you 
up, and I’ve got another patient way the other side 
of the Point at five-thirty.” 

“ But I don’t understand ” began Nancy in 

bewilderment. 

“ Why, I’m Mrs. Miggs,” explained her caller 
eagerly. “ The doctor told you about me, of 
course. Your hired girl said that, as long as you 
were expecting me, I might as well come right up. 
I think,” added Mrs. Miggs, with the air of impart- 
. 63 


NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


ing an interesting confidence, “ that her dinner was 
jest where she couldn’t very well leave it.” 

“ But the doctor didn’t tell me about you, Mrs. 
Miggs.” 

Nancy wasn’t in the least frightened or annoyed 
by Mrs. Miggs’s intrusion. You couldn’t be afraid 
of such a tiny creature. She was the smallest, 
thinnest little body imaginable. As she talked to 
Nancy, she peered at her and at the room with 
bright, bird-like glances, from under her small 
black bonnet ; and her motions, as she flitted about 
the bed, were quick and darting, so that her whole 
appearance reminded Nancy of a lively sparrow ; 
only her plumage was all somber, rather rusty 
black, instead of sparrow-like brown. 

Nancy’s remark about the doctor threw Mrs. 
Miggs into a paroxysm of twittering indignation. 
“ He didn’t ? You really mean he didn’t say a word 
about me ? Well, I never ! That young sprig I 
I must say I am surprised ! ” And she fixed 
Nancy with a particularly piercing stare of aston- 
ishment. “ Well, I ain’t clearing matters up 
much, am I ? ” she continued, after a minute. 
“ I’ll tell Sammy what I think of him when we 
next meet, and I’ll tell you now that Miss Marston 
couldn’t come to-day. He said she had a headache, 
but I’m inclined to think she wanted to go sailing 
with one of her many admirers.” Mrs. Miggs 
64 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT ! ” 


paused to reflect. “ Well, you can’t be young and 
beautiful but once — and sometimes not that, as in 
my case for instance. So we won’t blame her, — 
not till we know the facts, anyways. And so 
Doctor Sam Jennings asked me to come in her 
place, but he promised to ’phone your mother and 
let me know if it was perfectly agreeable. Now 
the point is, am I wanted ? ” 

Nancy laughed. The sulkiest, most depressed 
cripple could not have resisted the infectious cheer- 
fulness of the sparrow-like little masseuse. “ Why, 
yes,” she said, “ I’m sure you’ll give my ankle a 
splendid treatment, Mrs. Miggs.” 

“ I’ll do my level best,” returned Mrs. Miggs 
brightly. “ Nobody can do more — leastways I 
can’t. Now you tell me where to find water and 
towels, and I’ll point right for ’em. I hate to call 
that girl, she seemed so tied up with her dinner.” 

So Nancy explained locations, and Mrs. Miggs 
hopped busily back and forth, chattering all the 
time. 

“ This is a lovely spot,” she said, having finally 
seated herself by the bed, with Nancy’s swollen 
foot resting on a snowy white apron that she had 
produced, as if by magic, along with an incredible 
number of other conveniences, from an infinites- 
imal black silk bag. “ I always hoped that Miss 
Willis would want me, she being famous, and the 
65 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


house the kind that excited my cur’osity and all. 
But she never did. I do hope I’m not intruding 
to-day. Several of the patients decided to omit 
treatments until Miss Marston got well.” 

Nancy reassured her, making an effort to be 
cordial that would have astonished the absent Miss 
Marston and her own family as well. 

“ You’re very kind, I’m sure,” Mrs. Miggs told 
her. “Of course under the circumstances I natu- 
rally feel nervous. How long since you sprained 
your foot? ” 

Nancy told her, and inquired how long, in Mrs. 
Miggs’s opinion, it would stay sprained. 

“ Oh, I can’t tell anything about that,” chirped 
Mrs. Miggs, “ leastways not to-day. And what’s 
more,” she grew confidential, “ Sammy Jennings 
can’t either. Some sprains go slow an’ some fast. 
There ain’t no tellin’.” 

“ You’ve lived here a long time, haven’t you ? ” 
said Nancy. “ Dr. Jennings isn’t so particularly 
young now, so I suppose you knew him when he 
was.” 

“ Land, yes 1 I was with Mis’ Jennings when 
he was born. His father’ll always be the doctor 
to me, an’ Sammy’ll be the young doctor, till his 
hair’s white — that is, if I last to see it so. I was 
brung up here. I s’pose you know Captain 
Baker?” 


66 


“ TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT /” 


“ Of course,” Nancy assured her eagerly. 

“ Well, I’m his sister. Gen’rally summers I go 
up to Kittaning Corners, where my sister keeps a 
boarding-house. There ain’t no frilly young 
nurses up there, an’ the doctor is mighty glad to 
see me. But this year I couldn’t very well leave 
to go.” 

“ Well, it’s lovely here,” suggested Nancy con- 
solingly. “ Your brother is teaching my brother 
to sail. Father is willing that Dick should go out 
alone in our boat as soon as Captain Baker says he 
knows enough to. Dick’s out with him now.” 

“ He is ?” Little Mrs. Miggs reveled in the 
coincidence. “ Brother’s awful busy these days. 
He says he never seen Halcyon so full o’ jolly 
young folks. He’s had parties out most every 
night this week — moonlight, you know.” 

Nancy said nothing. So that was why Dick 
had disappeared every evening after dinner, and 
mother never seemed to know where he had gone. 
They were trying to hide all the good times from 
her, because she couldn’t join in them. A sudden 
flood of tears welled up into Nancy’s gray eyes. 

Mrs. Miggs darted an unsuspecting glance at 
her. “Oh, do I hurt you, my dear?” she de- 
manded anxiously, observing the tears. “ You’d 
ort to tell me if I do.” 

“ You don’t hurt,” disclaimed Nancy hastily. 

67 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ That is— only a little. I don’t mind being 
hurt.” It was no use! Her handkerchief was 
back under all the pillows. Nancy clawed for it 
frantically, fighting vainly against the rising tide 
of her misery. 

“ Here ! ” Mrs. Miggs shook out a snowy hand- 
kerchief, drawn from the inexhaustible black bag. 
“ Now have your cry out on it. It is hard to be 
missin’ all the frolics, an’ it was too bad I didn’t 
think in time to steer our conversation some other 
way. Steerin’ conversations is about the most 
important part of nursin’ and I don’t gen’rally let 
’em get away from me.” 

“ Oh, it d-d-oesn’t m-matter,” sobbed Nancy. 
“ I just hate staying here ! It will be for six weeks, 
probably, the doctor says, and I — o-o-h-h dear ! ” 

“ That’s right,” advised Mrs. Miggs sociably. 
“ Have your cry right out ! But next time you 
feel one cornin’ on, you jest think how many folks 
are worse off than you. That’s the best cure for 
tears that I know of.” 

“ Maybe it is,” snapped Nancy crossly, “ but I 
don’t know anybody that’s worse off. Being 
stuck in the house — or on the piazza — for all 
summer ” 

“ Yes, it’s bad, I’ll admit,” agreed Mrs. Miggs. 
“ Some girls wouldn’t mind much — the mooney, 
good-for-nothin’ kind that like to jest set an’ 
68 


“rot/ BE ON THE LOOKOUT !” 


dream, and let other folks work. But you’re 
active. You like to flax ’round. Jest the samey, 
you try my rule, an’ you’ll cheer up something 
lovely.” 

Nancy shrugged disdainfully. “ What have 
those other people to do with me — poor people in 
cities and sick people in hospitals, I suppose you 
mean. I’m not sick. I’m here to have a good 
time during my summer vacation. And now 
everything’s spoiled.” 

Mrs. Miggs peered at her interestedly. “ So you 
think you’re the only person whose vacation is 
spiled, do you ? You think you’re the only un- 
happy person in Halcyon, do you? You jest 
watch ! You jest be on the lookout I ” 

Nancy sniffed. “ How can I, when I’m stuck 
in here ? ” 

Mrs. Miggs posed her small head on one side 
quizzically. “ S’pose I told you that I seen the 
express turnin’ down here as I got out of the 
trolley-car. S’pose I told you how he offered me 
a lift, an’ how we laughed when we seen that we 
was coming to the very same house. Want to 
know what he brung?” Without waiting for an 
answer, Mrs. Miggs darted out the door and flut- 
tered down-stairs, returning in a moment with a 
bundle that was unmistakably crutches. 

“ Now you won’t be so confined,” said Mrs. 

69 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Miggs, with the proud air of offering Nancy an 
airship or a magic carpet at the very least. “ Why, 
as soon as you git a little handy with these, you 
can make wonderful progress. What do you say 
to preparing a little surprise right now for your 
folks? ” 

Deftly Mrs. Miggs helped Nancy to dress, and 
then escorted her down the hall and through Mrs. 
Lee's room, establishing her in an armchair on 
the little up-stairs piazza. 

“ You’ll come again ? ” said Nancy as Mrs. 
Miggs, having arranged everything in the most 
comfortable fashion, prepared to depart. 

Mrs. Miggs, poised airily in the door, darted 
back to readjust Nancy’s rug. “ That’s as heaven 
and Miss Marston decrees.” 

“ But I want you ! ” said Nancy. “ I’d rather 
have you than Miss Marston.” 

Mrs. Miggs chuckled. “ I’d like to hear you 
say that to the young doctor. We two can’t settle 
anything without speakin’ to him and to your 
mother. But whether I come again or whether I 
don't, you remember my rule. You hunt for the 
other unfortunates. You be on the lookout ! 
And don’t you hunt too far from home, neither. 
Good-bye ! ” 

Nancy laughed heartily over mother’s distracted 
hunt through the next room for a missing daugh- 
70 


“TOU BE ON THE LOOKOUT ! " 

ter. She was enthusiastic about her outdoor 
chamber. “ Though I shan’t snatch away your 
private piazza for long, mother,” she declared. 
“ To-morrow I’m going down-stairs.” She in- 
sisted upon hearing all about the yacht races, 
and she made a comical story for the family out 
of her visit from Mrs. Miggs. Dick and his 
mother exchanged amazed glances, and Joseph- 
ine inquired pointedly if Nancy “ felt better.” 

“ I’m ashamed to say that I do,” laughed Nancy, 
looking straight at mother. 

That evening, for the first time since the night 
of her accident, Nancy had something to say to 
the Red Journal. 

“ I wonder what she meant about hunting near 
home,” Nancy concluded her account of Mrs. 
Miggs’s visit. “ I wonder if she meant mother. 
Is it worse for her to have me laid up than for me 
to be laid up ? Could ‘ Doctor Sammy ’ have told 
Mrs. Miggs so ? Poor mother 1 I will not be cross 
any more ! Forgetting to be pleasant is as bad as 
forgetting to pick things up. A cross person is 
worse than a disorderly room. I will be pleasant. 

“Maybe I can help in other ways too. It 
doesn’t seem very likely, but I mustn’t forget that 
I’m a Wonder-Worker. It’s lucky we changed the 
name of our society from Woodland Wanderers, 
which I couldn’t possibly be now, to something 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


that I can try to be. Trying doesn’t always work 
wonders. Sometimes they just happen — like set- 
tling the Timmy Auction by having the Princess 
marry the Ogre. But if trying doesn’t always 
help, I guess it seldom hinders. I’m going to try. 

“ To-morrow I shall put on my Wonder-Worker 
jumper and sit on the piazza and think hard 
about how I can be helpful. But I’m going to be 
pleasant whatever happens. N. Lee.” 


72 


CHAPTER IV 


nancy’s lookout 

It was amazing, next morning on the piazza, 
how Nancy’s thoughts flew to happy conclusions. 

“ Maybe everything is not spoiled,” she wrote 
in the Red Journal, which she had asked Joseph- 
ine to bring down for her. She had had hard 
work persuading her conscientious little sister 
that she really preferred to be alone this morn- 
ing, and that there was therefore no reason why 
Josephine should not join her beloved brother on 
the bathing-beach. 

“ I promised father to take turns, and to give 
up things,” asserted Josephine. “ I mustn’t for- 
get to do it.” 

“ Some other time when I want you more will 
please father just as much,” explained Nancy. 
“ I’m busy making plans now, dearie. When 
I’ve planned, I’ll tell you all about it, and you’ll 
probably have to help me a lot, but this morning 
I’d really rather you would go off with Billy.” 

“ Honest ’n’ true ? ” inquired Josephine, and lost 
no time in going. 


73 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


“ Even if my summer is spoiled,” Nancy wrote 
on in the Red Journal, “ mother’s mustn’t be, nor 
Dick’s nor the children’s. That would be too 
silly for anything — to let one little sprained ankle 
spoil five lovely summers. 

“ Things I can do to help, even if I am lame : 

I. Mend stockings. (I hate it, but probably 
so does mother.) 

II. Plan menus for mother. I’ve heard her 
say it’s the most trying part of house- 
keeping for her, but I think it will be 
just fun — looking through cook-books 
to find good things for us to eat. 

III. Amuse Bill and Joe on rainy days. Gen- 

erally they hang around mother, ask- 
ing, ‘ What can we do ? ’ till every- 
body is sick of the sight of them. 

IV. If Dick wants to know the boy and girls 

next door, and hoped that I would 
manage it for him, I suppose I might 
be decent enough to let mother ask 
them over — especially as they’re new 
here. You wouldn’t dream, to see him 
around, that Dick is shy, but he is. 
Perhaps the girls next door are shy 
too, and not snippy and distant, as 
Charlotte Carter thought. 

“ I can’t think of any more things yet, but I’ll 
74 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 


leave a space for others, and these four will do to 
begin on. I do certainly wonder if Mrs. Miggs 
meant mother, when she told me to hunt near 
home for unhappy people. Whether she did or 
not, I’m afraid mother did mind about me dread- 
fully ; she looks so relieved and happy now that 
I’ve stopped growling for a while. But how I can 
be on the lookout for any more unhappy people 
passes me, as Jane Learned is forever saying, while 
I have to stick on this woodsy piazza, all shut in 
from the road. When Mrs. Miggs comes again 
day after to-morrow, I’ll make her tell me about 
some others, just to prove that she knows some. I 
think it was mean of ‘ Doctor Sammy ’ to say that 
I didn’t need another rub till day after to-morrow.” 

Mrs. Lee could hardly believe her ears when 
Nancy, actually smiling about it, insisted that she 
be allowed to help with the mending and the 
menus, and then asked her mother to call on the 
family next door and invite the two girls to come 
over. Dick was equally astonished when his 
sister demanded details of all the sailing-parties, 
past and to come. 

“ The most entertaining thing you can do, 
Dick,” she insisted gaily, “ is to buzz around in 
Halcyon society as hard as you can, and tell me all 
the gists. You’re a very poor cribbage player, 
especially when you’re thinking of other things. 

75 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


So run along and enjoy yourself, and bring home 
all the news.” 

Boylike, Dick said nothing, but he privately 
decided that “ Nance was a brick.” Determined 
to have an exceptionally entertaining report to 
deliver to her at lunch-time, he resolved to devote 
his morning to the quest for the Green Knight. 
So he tramped over to Surf Road and sauntered 
down one winding crossroad after another, past 
all the houses reasonably near to the big Reef. 
Finally, eliminating those whose occupants he was 
sure did not include the object of his search, he 
narrowed the possibilities down to three. Dick 
was a persistent youth. He waited in a mosquito- 
haunted ambush for half an hour in front of one 
house, only to discover that it was vacant and the 
signs of life about the place were caused by the 
visit of an agent and a prospective tenant. At the 
next house there was no suitable ambush, so Dick 
boldly walked to the door and demanded John 
Andrews. Now John Andrews was Dick’s chum. 
The Andrews cottage was a quarter of a mile away, 
and, as Dick knew to his sorrow, it was still un- 
occupied. So he felt quite safe in inquiring 
for John, and he elicited from a neat parlor- 
maid the information that she had never heard 
of such a person and that her master’s name 
was Parke. Dick knew the Parkes ; there was 
76 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 

no mysterious Green Knight in that staid house- 
hold. 

His plan of ringing door-bells had worked so 
well once that Dick decided to try it again at the 
third house, a small white one, hidden behind a 
tall clipped hedge. It was a little place, but so 
spick-and-span and dainty, with its hedge and 
green lawns and gay flower borders, that Nancy 
had once named it “ The Gem.” Dick knew the 
people who owned the place, but this summer they 
were in Europe ; and possibly the Green Knight’s 
family had rented it. 

“ The Gem ” had a tiny front porch, with box- 
trees at each end of the steps, and green settles for 
tired callers. Dick rang and waited. No response. 

“ Are they all out, or do they think I’m an 
agent?” wondered Dick, ringing again, this time 
long and loud. 

As he stepped back from the bell, his eye was 
caught by a small moving object on a side porch 
of the house. The porch was a big square one, 
shaded by green wicker curtains. One of these 
was only half drawn down, and just below it Dick 
could see a white object moving rapidly to and fro. 

His observations were interrupted when the 
door was flung open by the oddest little figure 
imaginable. Dick stared in amazement at her 
starched white cap with its wide revers, framing a 
77 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


wistful, wrinkled old face, at her quaint folded 
kerchief, and her full black skirt that stood out 
balloon-like around her slim, bent figure. And 
the old servant, if such she was, stared back at him 
in mute, half-frightened disapproval. 

In a moment Dick found voice to inquire for 
Johnny. The old woman shook her capped head 
slowly, with an air of bewildered wonderment. 

Dick tried again. “ I want Mr. John Andrews. 
Does he live here ? ” 

Again she shook her head. “ Not at home,” she 
pattered, in a high, toneless voice. 

“ But does he live here ? ” persisted Dick, sure 
that the old woman understood nothing, and hop- 
ing that she would call somebody to her aid. 

She apparently had no such intention. “ Not 
at home, nobody at home, you please to go away,” 
she expanded her set speech this time ; and Dick 
decided to adopt her suggestion before she shut 
the door in his face. 

It was queer, he thought, that at such a per- 
fectly appointed house, with its neat striped awn- 
ings, its window-boxes of pink geraniums, its 
velvety lawns, its garden-beds rioting with blos- 
soms, — it was queer that the people who lived at 
“ The Gem ” should put up with so strange a 
parlor-maid. Either she was deaf or she knew no 
English — the foreign costume suggested the latter. 

78 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 

They must be queer people. Well, wasn’t the 
Green Knight queer? Besides, there was no 
other house for him to live in, unless he was 
merely visiting at Halcyon, in which case he 
might be stopping almost anywhere. But he had 
spoken to Nancy of “ our house.” Perhaps that 
was he now, moving something out on the screened 
porch. Finding a peep-hole in the tall hedge, 
Dick cautiously reconnoitered. He could see the 
half-drawn curtain, the sunlit space below it, the 
fluttering white object. Ah, it was a hand, and 
it was writing ; the glittering thing that caught 
the sunlight was a silver penholder. But it 
wasn’t even a boy’s hand ; it was too small and 
too white. Besides, there was also visible a bare 
white arm — a lady’s arm. She must have a lot 
to say, Dick thought, tramping glumly back to 
“ The Crags,” to be writing so fast and so steadily. 
A whole morning gone, and nothing to show for 
it ! 

Nancy greeted him joyously. “Who do you 
think has been here ? Yes, somebody you know 
and like. Somebody you didn’t expect. Johnny 
Andrews ! ” 

Dick whistled. “ But their house is still closed. 
I noticed this morning.” 

“ Notice again this afternoon. Mrs. Andrews 
and Johnny are at the Inn — came last night. 

79 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


John had such a funny time going to our old 
house and being ‘ bowled over/ as he said, to find 
strangers there. This afternoon they’re going to 
take two cleaning-women out to their house, and 
to-morrow the rest of the family are coming.” 

“ Gee ! ” Dick was clearly annoyed. " Then 
he’ll be busy all this afternoon. Just my luck 
to have been prowling around hunting that queer 
boy, and missed Johnny.” 

“ Was that where you were ? ” laughed Nancy. 
“ Then I’m afraid you did waste your time, be- 
cause What did you find out ? ” 

“ Nothing,” admitted Dick gloomily. “ Unless 
you count that perhaps I spotted the house where 
he lives. If so, there’s a lady in the family that 
was writing letters like mad this morning, and 
the maid that answers the bell is either deaf or a 
foreigner. At least she’s a foreigner for sure, and 
maybe deaf into the bargain, and she’s not a bit 
interested in stray callers. She told me ‘ please to 
go away.’ ” 

Nancy laughed delightedly. “ Oh, Dick, you 
did find the right house then — the lovely one 
that I call ‘ The Gem ’ ! Johnny says the right 
name of it is ‘ Fair Acre.’ But how did you hap- 
pen to ring their bell ? Do you know the boy’s 
name ? ” 

“ No, I don’t know anything about him, except 
80 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 


what you told me.” Dick explained his bell-ring- 
ing scheme. “ I suppose Johnny told you what- 
ever new you know. Let’s have it.” 

“ It’s not much,” admitted Nancy. “ Last night 
Mrs. Andrews telephoned the Parkes, who have 
her keys, and the Parkes came to the Inn to see 
her. They told her about a queer family near 
them — a boy and his mother and a deaf French 
maid who works all day and never goes out, and 
an old gardener who sings queer foreign chants 
at his work and never goes out either. And when 
the lady goes out she wears a veil — a green veil, 
Johnny thought they said — drawn tight over her 
face. Sometimes she even wears it in the garden. 
And the boy runs if he’s spoken to.” 

“ Nice neighbors I ” sniffed Dick. 

“ They’d suit me beautifully,” laughed Nancy. 
“ I wish they lived near us. I could have splen- 
did times watching them and trying to puzzle 
them out. Mrs. Parke thinks the woman is crazy, 
and the boy keeps out of the way so he won’t 
have to answer questions about her. Mr. Parke 
thinks she’s been disfigured in some dreadful ac- 
cident. But as I told Johnny, that boy I met 
didn’t act as if his mother was insane or terribly 
hurt, and he wanted to hide it. He seemed too 
gay and jolly. So Johnny said that perhaps she 
was a beautiful young widow hiding from an 
81 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


insistent lover, and she’s given the crusty maid 
orders not to let any one in.” 

“ That’s your idea, not Johnny’s,” sniffed Dick, 
not yet reconciled to his wasted morning. 
“ Johnny would think up something with blood- 
and-thunder in it, instead of love.” 

“ Perhaps we thought it up together,” Nancy 
admitted amiably. “ And Johnny’s coming back 
to have lunch with you, so cheer up.” 

Nancy chuckled to herself at the idea of the 
tearful young lady of yesterday having arrived at 
the point of urging others to cheer up. But 
strange as it might seem, to-day she really had 
cheerfulness to spare. 

“ Maybe even my summer won’t be spoiled,” 
she wrote in the Red Journal after luncheon, 
when she was alone on the piazza again. Then 
she added a fifth item to her list of helpful 
activities : 

“ See to it that Bill and Joe go off somewhere 
right straight after lunch. The contrary creatures 
stick around and shout, when mother ought to be 
having her nap.” 

It was still mid-afternoon, but time was begin- 
ning to hang heavy, and the ankle to throb and 
prickle as it always did when Nancy had nothing 
to divert her mind from it. Her book was up- 
stairs, the stockings all mended, and she couldn’t 
82 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 


remember just how to go on with the crocheting 
that mother had started for her. 

“ Oh, de ” began Nancy, but stopped to won- 

der about a low, persistent “ Whu-whu I ” that 
had sounded once or twice around the end of the 
piazza. 

“ Whu-whu-whu-whu ! ” Where had she heard 
that owlish hoot before ? 

“ Whu-whu-whu-whu ! ” 

Hope Haskins, of course, calling from the top of 

Baxter’s Reef. “ Whu-whu Here I am ! ” 

called back Nancy. Mother had gone for her walk 
now, so quiet was no longer necessary. “ Come 
right around the house. I’m on the piazza at the 
back. I can’t come to meet you, or get up, or any- 
thing,” she added as the little brown-clad figure 
came nearer. 

“ I know ! ” Hope called back. “ That’s the 
particular reason why I came. But I can’t see 
why, if your house has a pretty name like ‘ The 
Crags,’ you don’t stick it up somewhere. I wasn’t 
a bit sure that I’d come to the right place.” 

“ Well, you have,” Nancy assured her, “ and at 
the right time too, because I’m longing for com- 
pany. I was going to write and ask you if you 
couldn’t come to see me some day when it rained.” 

“When it rained?” Hope’s brown eyes were 
vague with wonderment. 

83 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ Because then, if you had time for any extras, 
you wouldn’t want to be out on the rocks,” ex- 
plained Nancy. “How did you get away from 
‘ The Sign of the Dolphin ’ ? And how did you 
know about my ankle ? ” 

“ One question at a time, please,” laughed Hope, 
sitting down in one of the wicker chairs, after she 
had laid a big bundle she carried carefully on a 
table. “ I heard about your ankle in a funny 
way. Miss Willis had a bad headache yesterday. 
She called the doctor and the doctor sent a nurse 
to massage her head, and the nurse told her about 
a girl at * The Crags ’ who’d sprained her ankle 
five days ago. That was our day, you see, and 
you’d told me where you lived, and I’d told Miss 
Willis about you and how you said you’d come to 
the shop. So she naturally told me why you 
couldn’t come at present. That’s how I knew. 
And I got here to-day because Miss Willis sent me 
to a house called ‘Gray Gables ’ with that big bun- 
dle, and she said I might stop to inquire for you, 
and then you, or somebody else here, would tell 
me how to get to ‘ Gray Gables.’ So that’s how I 
got here and, as usual, I can’t stay but a minute.” 

“ Then there’s something I want to ask you,” 
Nancy told her earnestly. “ You remember what 
you said the other day about enjoying glimpses of 
rocks and pools more than you would if you had 
84 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 


all day to wander around and look at them. Do 
you really think that’s so ? ” 

“ Oh, I know it ! ” cried Hope eagerly, her big 
eyes blazing. “ Why, this very minute I'm enjoy- 
ing you and this lovely piazza and these pretty 
chairs and the flower-beds and the paths that 
wander off to lovely places where I’ve never been 
— I’m enjoying it to make up for ironing napkins 
in a stifling hot laundry all this morning, when it 
wasn’t my turn to iron, and for dropping a tray of 
dishes yesterday and being scolded and made to 
pay for what was broken, and for all the other 
horrid things that have happened lately, and that 
are probably going to happen soon. I’m having a 
perfectly blissful time ! I’m storing up things to 
think over and things to wonder about. But you 
— you sit here every day, and you don’t have to 
drink the loveliness down in big gulps and then 
run.” Hope sighed happily. “ If I didn’t have 
to take my joys in gulps, I’m sure I should miss 
lots of them.” 

“ I — think — I see,” said Nancy slowly. “ Now 
if I were like you, I could make the lovely walk 
I had the day I met you last over these days when 
I can’t walk at all, and then I shouldn’t feel so 
unhappy about my accident.” 

“ Yes,” nodded Hope. “ That’s it. And being 
here on this lovely, shady piazza would make up 
85 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


to you for the days when you had to stay up-stairs, 
and your having a pretty room — I know you 
have one — would make up ” 

“ Go up and see it, if you want to,” suggested 
Nancy. “ It’s the door at the left of the stairs. 
Be sure to notice my tree and my view and my 
wall-paper.” 

In a moment Hope came running back, so radi- 
ant that Nancy made another suggestion. “ I 
want you to see my Birdcage too. Only I can’t 
bear not to show it to you myself. Would you have 
time to help me out there ? We should have to 
go slowly, but it’s only a few steps.” 

Hope’s eyes danced. “ Oh, yes, I can do that, be- 
cause I’ll hurry all the way to ‘ Gray Gables ’ and 
back, to make up for lost time. You are splendid 
to me, Nancy Lee. Everybody is — almost — tak- 
ing a lot of trouble to show me things that they 
think I shall love. I’m guessing hard this minute 
about what wonderful kind of birdcage you can 
have hung up out there in the woods.” 

“ I don’t think it was very splendid of whoever 
made you pay for those broken dishes,” said Nancy, 
as they started for the Birdcage. “ I think it’s 
downright mean to make a person pay for an 
accident.” 

“ Oh, not mean, exactly,” qualified Hope. “ You 
see I knew about the breakage fines, and I ought 
86 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 


to have been more careful. Of course another girl 
shoved me — but I ought to have looked out for 
that. Losing the forty cents will make me most 
dreadfully careful for all summer, and by that 
time perhaps I shall have got the habit of careful- 
ness, which would be cheap at forty cents,” ended 
Hope quaintly. 

“ I guess it would ! ” sighed Nancy. “ I’m 
dreadfully careless myself. I suppose I was being 
careless when I got this sprain. And I’m always 
dropping things and losing them and forgetting. 
One of the Fair Oaks girls — that’s the name of my 
school — nicknamed me Miss I-Forgot. But just 
at present I’m more interested in being cheerful 
than careful. Whether you’re used to it or not, 
you have to be pretty careful on crutches.” 

Hope nodded. “ And — oh, surely you can’t be 
very cheerless, with this to come out to ! ” she 
cried, catching sight of the little summer-house. 
“ What a darling place ! And you say it’s your 
own little house? I think it belongs partly to the 
fairies, Nancy Lee.” 

After a few blissful minutes spent in inspecting 
the arrangements of the Birdcage, trying the 
perches, as Hope insisted upon calling the chairs 
and seat, and hearing about Nancy’s projected im- 
provements, Hope declared that she must go. It 
wouldn’t be fair to Miss Willis to stay any longer. 

87 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

“ Not that she specially needs me back in a hurry,” 
said Hope, “ because so few people come to the 
shop yet. But she pays me, so the afternoon be- 
longs to her. You’re sure you’re all right here, 
Nancy Lee? I’d better tell some one at the house 
where you’ve disappeared to.” 

Having gone a little way down the path, Hope 
ran back again with a parting suggestion. “ Mer- 
maids help me a lot these days,” she announced 
cryptically. “ I mean, to think about, when I 
can’t be doing the things I want to. It really 
seems as if I could imagine mermaids better when 
I can’t get out to see their haunts. So now that 
you can’t climb out on our big rock, you try im- 
agining mermaids there. It helps a lot.” 

“ Thank you — but I’d rather have you out on 
Baxter’s with me than any silly mermaid,” retorted 
Nancy laughingly. 

“Oh, really? Thank you for that!” cried 
Hope, darting down the path and out of sight, this 
time for good. 

Lying back in her rustic chair, Nancy smiled 
happily to herself over the notion of a matter-of- 
fact person like Nancy Lee spending her thoughts on 
mermaids. As she had told Hope, she preferred to 
think about real people. She wished somebody'else 
would come to see her. Mother had promised to call 
next door ; just possibly she might bring back the 
88 


NANCT'S LOOKOUT 


girls with her. That would be pleasant, only if, 
upon further acquaintance, she decided that she 
didn’t like them, Nancy hated to have them find 
her in the Birdcage. She meant to keep that for 
choice spirits like Hope. 

“ I’m tired, I tell you I I’m tired ! ” sang a 
shrill little voice almost in Nancy’s ear. Some- 
body was down on the rocks — the public rocks 
outside the fence. Not mermaids, but real persons. 
Nancy twisted herself round in her chair and 
looked down, just as another explosive announce- 
ment floated up to her. 

“.No, I don’t wanter play in the sand,” shrilled 
the same cross little voice. “ I won’t I I won’t ! I 
wanter see my father. I hate this place. I shall 
cry if I wanter ! Stop scratching me, you kitten I” 

Down below the Birdcage stood a child — the 
palest, thinnest, sickliest little girl Nancy had 
ever seen. Her white face was shaded by a flop- 
ping white muslin hat. Her dress was white, and 
her shoes and stockings. Under her arm she 
carried a fluffy white ball of fur that Nancy 
thought was a toy kitten, until, at an impatient 
twitch from its little mistress, it mewed piteously. 

Beside the cross child stood a stiffly starched, 
unhappy-looking nurse-maid, holding on a leash a 
beautiful white wolfhound, who, tugging hard at 
his leash, looked rather unhappy too. 

89 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ Give me the kitten, and you take your pail 
and spade and go and play in the sand,” suggested 
the nurse once more. 

“ I won’t ! I won’t ! ” shrieked the little white 
girl. “ I want my kitten an’ my father. You go 
’way ! I don’t want you ! ” 

“ I’ll make you a sand-castle,” suggested the 
poor nurse desperately. “ A lovely castle in ” 

“ You won’t ! ” shrieked the child. “ I wanter 
go home, I do. I’m tired.” 

“ But your grandpapa said ” began the poor 

nurse. 

“ That old thing ! ” shrieked the naughty child. 
“ I won’t mind him ! I’ll mind my father. My 
father lets me do all the nice things I wanter. 
He ” 

Nancy had listened, fascinated by the noisy 
fury of the tiny, white-faced virago. Now she 
leaned forward and gave Hope’s owl-hoot. “ Whu- 

whu Who are you?” she called. “I’m a 

little bird, and this is my cage. Who are you, 
down there? A little chattering squirrel, I think, 
or a clam come out of his hole in the sand to look 
around.” 

At the sound of Nancy’s voice, the child jumped 
back, startled, and dropped the fluffy kitten, 
which gave a frightened “miaow ” as it fell, and 
then squatted down contentedly on the warm 
90 


NANCT’S LOOKOUT 

sand. In a minute the child saw Nancy’s yellow 
head peering out from the greenery above her. 

“Um! You’re a big story-teller,” she cried. 
“ You’re a girl, not a bird, and I’m a little girl. 
You stop talking to me I ” 

“ Oh, but I am truly and honestly in a Bird- 
cage,” persisted Nancy smilingly. “ You just 
come up and see if I’m not — if your nurse is 
willing. The name of it is all printed on my 
little cage. And I’m a caged bird, too. My wing 
is broken, so I can’t hop down to you. I have to 
stay right here in my — on my perch.” 

“Um! You big story-teller ! ” mocked the 
little white girl. “ I don’t wanter come up ’n’ see. 
I won’t come up ! I want my father. I hate this 
old place.” 

“ Hush, dearie,” the shocked nurse besought her 
small charge. “ You mustn’t be rude to the nice 
lady. She’s telling you a pretty story, and invit- 
ing you up to see her. Oh ” — in a shriller key of 
dismay — “ you naughty, naughty girl ! ” 

For, without waiting for any more talk about it, 
the little white girl had made a dive after the 
fluffy kitten and now, hardly touching the rocks 
as she went, she was running away as fast as her 
pipe-stem legs could carry her. 

“ Oh, my ! She’s not let to run ! ” cried the 
white-capped nurse dismally, and was off in pant- 

91 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


ing pursuit, with the great white hound, contrary 
as his little mistress, now pulling obstinately back 
on his leash. 

“ Well, of all awful children ! ” Nancy leaned 
back in her rustic chair. “ Poor little thing ! 
She must have been dreadfully ill, to be so pale 
and thin. Her face is like a little old woman’s. 
I pity that nurse.” Suddenly Nancy gave a glad 
little cry. “ Why, I’ve found them — two more un- 
fortunates. And I wasn’t even on the lookout, — 
unless you call it being on the lookout to be sitting 
up in this Birdcage. It’s the best lookout I’ve got, 
anyway ; but of course it’s only by accident that 
I discovered those two. I should never see any 
more from here, probably. I wonder if Mrs. 
Miggs knows that dreadful child. And I wonder 
if the child has any real things to be unhappy 
about, or whether she’s just cross as — I — was,” 
admitted honest Nancy. “Under the circum- 
stances, I guess I’d better be feeling sorry for her 
instead of calling her a dreadful child, poor little 
mite 1 ” 


92 


CHAPTER V 


MORE NEW FRIENDS 

The two girls who lived next door were not 
sisters ; they were cousins. Alexandra was Alex- 
andra Little, sister of the tall boy who could do 
the wonderful diving. Cecilia was Cecilia Green, 
who lived in Ohio but spent most of her summers 
with her Eastern cousins. The Little boy’s name 
was Peter, and because he was so very tall he was 
naturally nicknamed Little Peter. But this fact 
did not come out till after the ice had been broken, 
and Cecilia’s and Alexandra’s formal call of neigh- 
borly condolence had been turned into a very 
merry visit that lasted most of the afternoon, 
included Dick and Peter and Johnny Andrews, 
and ended on the tennis-court, — tennis-courts be- 
ing, as is well known, excellent places for breaking 
social ice. 

Alexandra was tall and fair and very quiet. 
Cecilia was little and dark and did the talking for 
both. 

“ We felt so sorry when we heard of your acci- 
dent,” said Alexandra in her sweet, low voice. 

“ Aunt May tried to have us come right over 
93 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


and see you,” added Cecilia, “ but Alexandra 
wouldn’t.” 

“ Oh, C. ! ” remonstrated her cousin. “ It was 
only because I thought she might not feel like 
having us.” 

“ It’s fun here at Halcyon, isn’t it ? ” Cecilia 
changed the subject swiftly. “ We don’t know 
many people yet, but we’ve been asked to go sail- 
ing to-morrow with a party from the Inn. You 
know Alexandra’s brother Peter stayed there for 
a while last summer. And everybody talks to you 
when you’re in the water. We go in every day.” 

Alexandra tried to catch her voluble cousin’s 
eye. “ There’s no prettier place around here than 
this piazza, I think,” she said, frowning hard at 
Cecilia. 

“ Oh, yes, indeed ! ” Cecilia saw the meaning 
of Alexandra’s signals. “ And it’s splendid to 
have time to read and sew, and to be waited on, 
isn’t it? Can you have all the good things you 
want to eat ? ” 

“ I’ll bring you over some of our books, if 
you like,” suggested Alexandra presently. “ We 
brought a good many with us, but no one seems to 
care much for them.” 

“ We can bring our sewing over sometimes too,” 
put in Cecilia. “ We brought piles of fancy work 
to do, and we haven’t touched it.” 

94 


MORE NEW FRIENDS 


“ Oh, yes,” chimed in Alexandra, looking pity- 
ingly at Nancy. “ We shall be glad to come and 
sew with you.” 

Nancy had stood their pitying glances and tact- 
ful sympathy just as long as she could. “ Oh, 
please stop bothering about me and planning to 
do things for me, and let’s talk about something 
real I ” she exploded suddenly. “ I don’t want to 
be pitied 1 I’m not forlorn ! I hate to sit around 
all summer and read or sew, just as much as you 
two would, but I can stand it, I guess, if I have to. 
Only, since we all three know what a perfect 
nuisance a sprained ankle is, I’d rather talk about 
something else — something pleasanter.” 

Alexandra stared affrightedly at her hot-headed 
young hostess. Cecilia giggled. “ What do you 
want to talk about ? ” she asked. 

“ Things we all like, such as tennis,” returned 
Nancy promptly. “ Have you a court ? Then 
come and play on ours, and bring your brother.” 

“ Oh, what larks ! ” cried eager Cecilia. “ Where 
is your court ? It’s queer I never noticed it.” 

Nancy explained, and sent her two guests off to 
inspect the cleverly hidden tennis-ground. 

“ We should love to play here,” Alexandra told 
her when they were back, “ only won’t it make 
you feel — you know,” she ended, afraid to risk 
Nancy’s displeasure by saying what she meant. 

95 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

“No, it won’t,” declared Nancy stoutly. “I 
can sit on the green bench and watch, and 
keep score for you, maybe. My brother Dick 
will like to play with you. He’s very fond of 
tennis.” 

“Goodie! Then we can get Peter and have 
mixed doubles ! ” cried Cecilia eagerly. “ That’s 
our favorite game. We’ll certainly come soon.” 
She hesitated. “ Would to-morrow afternoon be 
too soon ? ” 

“ Cecilia ! ” remonstrated Alexandra. 

“ Well,” explained Cecilia, “ that court looks so 
tempting, and I thought it would be nice to settle 
something right now.” 

“ Of course it would.” Nancy, smiling a satis- 
fied smile, took up Cecilia’s proposal. She had 
been waiting for an excuse to call out her shy big 
brother, who had fled indoors at the approach of 
the two strange girls he so much wanted to know. 
Here was her opening. “ I believe Dick is some- 
where around here now,” she said. “ So you 
needn’t wait even till to-morrow unless you want 
to. Oh, Dick ! ” 

Dick lounged out, blushing furiously and act- 
ing as amazed as if he had not made Nancy sol- 
emnly promise to “ get him into the game ” the 
first chance she had. Why yes, he agreed rather 
hesitatingly, it wasn’t a bad day for tennis. If 
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MORE NEW FRIENDS 


Peter Little couldn't be found to make a fourth 
for the match, he would stand the two girls. 

But Peter was only too glad to come. He ap- 
peared after a few minutes with the girls, who had 
run home for shoes and racquets. Peter was noisy 
and jolly, more like Cecilia than Alexandra. He 
called his sister “ A1 ” and his cousin “ Miss C. 
Green ” or just “ Sea-Green.” 

“ We only have her here because she’s the right 
color,” he explained facetiously. 

He played a fair game, but not so well as Dick 
did ; so that Dick, and Alexandra, who tried very 
hard but was, as her brother blandly explained, 
“ an old duffer at sports,” were very evenly 
matched against Peter and Cecilia, who, Nancy 
judged, played about as well as she did. In the 
middle of the afternoon Johnny Andrews ap- 
peared. 

“ Hello, Jonathan,” said Nancy, making room 
for him on the green bench.. “ I’m not a bit sur- 
prised to see you. I thought I heard Dick tele- 
phoning you, when he went in to get the tennis 
net.” 

Johnny smiled. “ S’pose he did telephone? 
He had to call off an engagement to go out in my 
new motor-boat, hadn’t he ? I’m naturally a meek 
little soul, but when I’m to be coldly turned down 
for a girl party I want to be notified in time to be 
97 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


in on said party. That’s perfectly fair, isn’t it? 
Besides, I’ve got news for you.” 

“News for me?” Nancy wondered. “Oh, 
Johnny, is it about the Green Knight ? ” 

Johnny nodded solemnly. “ I’ve seen him. 
He was wearing his badge of office — green cap 
with feather aforesaid. He was walking. On 
two feet. Also whistling. I said ‘ Hello.’ He 
did not run away from me.” 

“ What a thrilling report ! ” laughed Nancy. 

“Just the same,” Johnny assured her, “ he, and 
the party with the veil, and the gardener that 
makes the flowers grow in Dago and talks sign 
language with his fingers at that crazy looking 
cook, — they’ve got the neighborhood all fussed 
up.” 

The tennis set ended just then, and the players 
joined the spectators, the girls taking the bench 
and the boys the ground. 

“ Couldn’t you go sailing if we helped you a 
lot about getting into the boat?” Johnny asked 
Nancy presently. “ Because there’s a perfectly 
good motor-launch tied up to your dock this min- 
ute, and plenty of time before dinner for us all 
here assembled to try her out.” 

Nancy shook her head. The steps down to the 
wharf were too steep for crutches, and the doctor 
had advised her not to try to get in and out of a 
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MORE NEW FRIENDS 


boat for a while. But she urged the rest to go, 
laughingly telling them that she had had enough 
company for one day. In this she was perfectly 
sincere ; her ankle throbbed from having been 
kept so long in the normal position of well 
ankles ; she longed to prop it up and stretch it 
out, with no regard for appearances. In the end 
she had her way. Dick and Johnny made a 
“ lady’s chair ” and carried her gallantly back to 
the piazza, where the young people from next 
door said good-bye to her and thanked her for “a 
perfectly grand time.” 

“ I’m glad you didn’t want to be pitied,” whis- 
pered Cecilia. 

“ So am I,” chimed in Alexandra. “ But for a 
minute when you objected to the topics of our 
conversation, you frightened me. I thought you 
meant that we had been — stupid.” 

It didn’t take long for the throb in Nancy's 
ankle to subside, and then, after the gay time she 
had had earlier in the afternoon, the piazza seemed 
very dull and quiet. 

“ I’m getting lonely and cross,” Nancy told her- 
self. “ I mustn’t do that. I’ve had a gulp of 
fun, as Hope says, and it ought to last me for 
a while ; but instead I want another right off now. 
I’ll go to my lookout, and see how Mrs. Miggs’s 
rule works.” 


99 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


So she hobbled out to the Birdcage and estab- 
lished herself in the biggest chair, overlooking the 
rocks and the water. 

She had scarcely seated herself when a shrill 
little voice jeered up at her eagerly. “ You are a 
story-teller, you are ! You’re not a bird. You 
don’t stay in a cage. Your wing isn’t broken — 
you haven’t a wing. I saw you walk with two 
sticks under your arms. So now ! ” The little 
white girl jiggled on her pipe-stem legs, in defiant 
assertion of her thesis. 

Nancy smiled cajolingly down at her small an- 
tagonist. “ Don’t you ever pretend ? ” she asked. 
“ I think it’s fun to pretend, and when I was 
smaller like you I used just to love it. Of course 
I’m a girl. I’ve hurt my ankle ; that’s why I 
walk on two sticks. But this truly is a Birdcage 
— you come and see if the name isn’t fastened 
right up here on it — and I can’t go far from the 
door of my cage, because walking on sticks is too 
hard work. So don’t you think I might pretend 
I’m a bird?” 

“ You can pretend if you wanter,” snapped the 
small drooping mouth. “ I shan’t. It’s silly. I 
wanter go home. I came to see if you were a 
bird.” She turned to the nurse, who stood beside 
her, eying her rude little charge with dull dis- 
couragement. 


ioo 


MORE NEW FRIENDS 


" Where’s your kitten ? ” asked Nancy, deter- 
mined to strike some spark of friendliness or in- 
terest from the strange, aloof child. 

But the innocent question was like a red rag to 
a bull. 

“ Never you mind about that ! ” shrieked the 
child. “ Never you mind ! ” She turned furi- 
ously on the nurse. “ You old tattle-tale ! ” She 
stamped her little white-shod feet. “ You old 
tattle-tale ! ” 

Thus assailed, the drooping nurse was galvan- 
ized into sudden energy and a belated realization 
of her responsibilities. Slipping the dog’s leash 
over her arm, she seized the child firmly by the 
shoulders. 

“ Clare,” she ordered, “ you are not to speak so 
to the lady, or to me. Tell her you are sorry.” 

“ I’m not ! I shan’t ! ” cried the child. 

“Then I shall have to tell your grandfather 
what a rude little girl you’ve been.” 

No answer. 

“ I’m going to tell the lady about your kitten.” 
She looked up at Nancy. “ It was taken away, 
ma’am, because she was saucy to her governess. 
She’s not to have it back until she apologizes. 
And when I tell her grandfather about this, he’ll 
take the dog away too, I fancy. Say you’re sorry, 
Clare.” 

IOI 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ I won’t, I won’t ! I want my own kitten and 
my own dog. I want my own father ! You old 
tattle-tale, you ! ” 

“ We’ll go home this minute, Clare.” 

With a piercing shriek the child stiffened her 
small figure and refused to stir. Finally the out- 
raged nurse stooped and picked her up and ran 
with her down the path. “ I’ll hold my breath if 
you don’t let me down,” shrieked the child, as the 
pair vanished, with the puzzled wolfhound com- 
plicating matters as usual by trying to lag behind. 

“ Poor little thing ! ” Nancy’s gray eyes were 
full of tears. “ I thought little children were al- 
ways happy. Timmy was.” She wished the 
twins and Margaret were there to adopt the little 
white girl as their prize Waif and Stray. Jeanne 
and little Sarah seemed creatures of joy compared 
to this miserable mite. If only Nancy could go 
down on the rocks with her, she felt sure she 
could make friends with the child. 

She was still a very sober Nancy, when mother 
came with the key to the tea-chest — or the bird- 
seed box, as Hope had wanted it called. 

“ Will you ask me to tea, Nancy ? ” she de- 
manded gaily. “ I’m hungry as a bear after my 
walk.” 

Over the tea Nancy related her last experience 
with the strange child, the other having already 
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MORE NEW FRIENDS 


been retailed to the family. “ I wonder if she can 
be a granddaughter of old Judge Smith’s,” said 
Mrs. Lee. “ He’s opened ‘ Gray Gables,’ I see. I 
remember hearing that his youngest son had a 
little daughter whose mother died when she was 
born. The father is an artist and lives in some 
queer, far-away place — South America, perhaps.” 

“ This little girl is always wailing for her 
father,” Nancy remembered, “ and she looks some- 
how different and foreign, so she’s probably the 
‘ Gray Gables ’ child. I wish I could think of 
something comical to make for her. Oh, I know ! 
A peanut doll family ! I do believe she’ll like 
peanut dolls, and if she doesn’t she’s welcome to 
throw them down and stamp on them if she wants 
to, poor little, lonely thing.” 

Next day it rained. Nancy buttoned William 
and Josephine into their raincoats and sent them 
off to the Neck after peanuts and a spool of wire. 
While they were gone she interviewed Rosa, 
planned the day’s meals, and mended a rip in 
Dick’s bathing-suit. The children cleared a table 
for her on the piazza, found paste, string, ink, 
some bits of cloth, and sewing utensils, and then 
watched breathlessly while Nancy turned peanuts 
into dolls’ bodies, arms, legs, and faces. By the 
time a “ family ” of six grotesque little wriggling 
dolls was finished, it had stopped raining, and 
103 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Josephine, who had been tremendously interested 
in Nancy’s account of the strange child, volun- 
teered to take the dolls up to “ Gray Gables.” 

“ But I’m not sure she lives there,” objected 
Nancy. Then she laughed gleefully. “ Yes, do 
take them, Joe. Her name is Clare. Don’t leave 
them unless it’s surely the right place. There ! ” 
When she was talking Nancy had printed on the 
peanut dolls’ box : “ Another little bird told me 

you lived here. — Lady Bird-in-a-Cage.” 

In an incredibly short time, Josephine was back, 
a shocked expression on her small face. 

“ She lives there and she’s an awfully rude 
little girl,” announced Josephine primly. “She 
snatched at the box, and she never said ‘'thank 
you.’ And when the lady that was with her re- 
minded her to say it, she wouldn’t. But an old 
man came — is he her father, Nancy ? — and he 
thanked me and took me out to see the pony. 
She wouldn’t come. Is it her pony, do you s’pose, 
Nancy? It looks so funny and little, all by itself 
in the big barn, because they have another place for 
all the automobiles. And the old man asked me 
to come again, after the pony’s cart, which they’ve 
sent for, is here, and drive it around. But if I’ve 
got to play with that rude little girl I don’t want 
to go. She’s too little for me to play with, any- 
way.” 


104 



c c 


? 1 


l’VE BEEN ON THE LOOKOUT 



MORE NEW FRIENDS 


“ I’ve been on the lookout 1 ” Nancy announced 
triumphantly to Mrs. Miggs when that lady ap- 
peared a little later in the day. “ And I’ve found 
the unhappiest child in Halcyon.” 

“ You don’t say ! ” Mrs. Miggs’s little black 
bonnet fluttered and her eyes snapped with interest, 
as Nancy told her about the little white girl. 
“ The dretful child ! I certainly pity those wimin 
that has the care of her. You put them on your 
list of unfortunates too, Miss Nancy. And jest to 
think of all she’s got to make her happy, with that 
lovely big yard to play in and the old Judge turn- 
ing things topsy-turvy to amuse her, so I’ve heard. 
I’ll ask about the father and mother as I have 
chances to do so, and let you know.” 

Mrs. Miggs rubbed the ankle for a while in 
silence. “ Unhappiness that ain’t reasonable,” she 
mused at last, “ and unhappiness that can’t be 
cured — they’re both bad, but the last wrings your 
heart. My little lame grandchild — she must be just 
about the age of your sister — she lies in bed as 
cheerful and contented, thinkin’ how she’ll be 
walkin’ again before long. But the chances is,” 
Mrs. Miggs dropped her voice to the tone of a con- 
fidence, — “ the chances is she’ll lie there the rest of 
her life.” 

“ Oh, what a pity ! ” Nancy’s soft eyes sym- 
pathized eagerly with her new friend. “ Things 
105 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


like that make little troubles look like nothing, 
don’t they ? My little white girl is just a cry-baby, 
not a bit worth pitying, compared to yours.” 

“ Don’t you say that ! Don’t you be hard on 
her ! ” warned Mrs. Miggs zestfully. “ My grand- 
child’s got grit and good sperits, if her legs won’t 
work right. And sometimes I think grit and good 
sperits is worth more than all the other things in 
this world put together.” 

“ I couldn’t be cheerful if I knew I should never 
walk again,” sighed Nancy. 

“ She don’t know it yit,” explained Mrs. Miggs. 
“ And she shan’t neither, as long as there’s any 
hope in her an’ I’m ’round to chirk her up with a 
few more dretful fibs. But if she ever has to 
know the worst, she’ll keep up. She’s a wonder, 
that child is.” Mrs. Miggs grew confidential again. 
“ It’s on her account I’m here with my daughter 
’stead of up to Kittaning Corners as usual. She 
says nobody lifts her quite so easy as her granny.” 

“ Would she like some peanut dolls, like the 
ones I made for my child ? ” demanded Nancy. 

“ She’d adore some,” chirped Mrs. Miggs. “ But 
my dear, what would set her up most would be to 
hear about this Birdcage of yours that you talk 
about. That story you made of it — that that other 
no-’count child laughed at — my lamb loves stories. 
If you’d jest explain it a little more — I ain’t much 
106 


MORE NEW FRIENDS 


at these pertend games myself, but I enter in all I 
can, because it pleases her so.” 

“ Why, it wasn’t anything I ” Nancy repeated 
her two conversations with the little white girl, and 
then sent Mrs. Miggs out to inspect the Birdcage, 
so that the little masseuse departed in a state of 
twittering delight, — “jest chock-full of interestin’ 
news,” as she herself described her condition. 


107 


CHAPTER VI 

WAS HE THE BURGLAR? 

“ Of course you’re all to go out in Johnny’s 
boat ! The fireworks will look a lot prettier from 
the water, and besides, you can run into the har- 
bor past city park to see what the big crowds there 
are doing, and then past the Inn to see the dancing. 
I shall be perfectly happy here alone.” 

“ Are you sure you won’t be the least bit nerv- 
ous ? ” Mrs. Lee asked her daughter anxiously. 
“ Rosa will be out too, you know.” 

“ Not a bit,” persisted Nancy stoutly. “ I’m 
never nervous.” 

“ Then perhaps we will all go for a little while,” 
decided Mrs. Lee. “ I can’t let the children go 
unless I’m with them, and having them on the 
boat is by far the easiest way of looking after 
them.” 

“ Want to be escorted out to your private 
summer-house, Nancy ? ” asked Dick. “ I say, it’s 
a perfect shame you can’t go to the Inn dance.” 

Nancy laughed at his earnestness. “ Is Johnny 
Andrews trying to cut you out with Alexandra? 
I’m sorry I can’t be on hand to divert his atten- 
108 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR ? 


tion. No thank you, Dick. I think I’ll keep to 
the piazza. I can see the bay almost as well from 
here, and it might be spooky down among the 
trees all by my lonesome.” 

“ You’ll have Regent to protect you,” Dick re- 
minded her, stooping to pat his collie. “ He’s too 
much underfoot in the boat.” 

So with her chair drawn up to the table-lamp, 
the Spoiled Kitten — very sleepy from frolicking 
with Josephine — in her lap, and the collie curled 
obediently at her feet, though he was fairly quiver- 
ing with eagerness to be off after his master, Nancy 
prepared to enjoy her solitary Fourth of July 
evening as best she might. Secretly she was a 
little annoyed at the family for leaving her. She 
wasn’t in the least frightened ; fear of imaginary 
bogies never bothered Nancy Lee. But she had 
had a rather stupid day, for Fourth of July cele- 
brations had displaced the regular tennis games, 
and everybody had been too busy to think much 
about Nancy, who was such a self-reliant, contented 
invalid nowadays that she received less considera- 
tion, perhaps, than she really needed. 

“ I do hate to be fussed over,” she thought, “ but 
all the same I’m awfully sick of sewing and read- 
ing and sitting. I believe I’d even enjoy parchesi. 
I wonder if Josephine would have stayed if I’d 
offered to play her beloved game.” 

109 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


The Spoiled Kitten awoke from its cat-nap, purr- 
ing vociferously, and climbed up to lick Nancy’s 
cheek affectionately. The collie yapped, as a par- 
ticularly noisy motor went by on the road. 

“ Hush, Regent ! ” Nancy ordered, and was 
startled at the sound of her own voice breaking 
the perfect quiet of the evening. 

A shower of many-colored sparks flamed out 
suddenly over the water. The fireworks had 
begun. Nancy looked at them, read, petted the 
kitten, called to Regent, who hated the detonations 
that accompanied the fireworks and prowled rest- 
lessly back and forth on the long piazza, getting 
lost in the darkness at either end. But always at 
the sound of Nancy’s call he pattered back obedi- 
ently, and curled up at her feet in response to her 
“ Charge, Regent ! ” 

Yawning, Nancy looked at her watch. Twenty- 
five minutes past eight ; mother had meant to be 
back by half-past. But very likely Mrs. Andrews 
would persuade her to stay out longer. Rosa was 
almost always back before nine. 

“ And then,” thought Nancy, “ I shall go to bed. 
I don’t care much for these fireworks. Perhaps 
they’re having some wonderful low picture effects 
that I can’t see, but the ones I can see are perfectly 
ordinary.” 

“ Bow — wow — wow — wow — wow ! ” Regent 

IIO 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR f 


leaped up and bounded along the piazza, barking 
frantically. 

He heard the family down at the dock, Nancy 
decided swiftly, annoyed at herself for having 
jumped and thereby frightened away the Spoiled 
Kitten, who hissed at her and the noisy Regent 
angrily from the piazza railing. 

“ Come here, Regent. Regent, come here ! ” 
called Nancy in her sternest tones. But Regent, 
bristling and growling out at the darkest end of 
the long piazza, paid not the slightest attention. 

His actions puzzled and worried Nancy. He 
wasn’t looking toward the water-path. He never 
growled unless some stranger appeared in his 
home domain, and not often then ; he was a very 
friendly puppy. 

Ah ! It was Rosa of course, — Rosa and a beau, 
coming in at the little back gate. Regent had 
taken a curious aristocratic dislike to all men who 
came in at that little back gate — grocer’s boys, 
milk and meat men, or Rosa’s suitors. Dick 
suspected that the fish-man had started the feud 
with a surreptitious kick. 

“ Rosa 1 Rosa I Are you back ? ” called Nancy, 
above the dog’s angry growls. “ Speak to Regent, 
please, and he’ll stop. Oh, be still, you naughty 
dog!” 

But Regent would not be still. Instead, he 
hi 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

added an agitated running accompaniment to his 
growls ; and each time that he neared Nancy’s seat, 
he looked anxiously up in her face and gave vent 
to an agonized howl that said as plainly as words : 
“ Here’s trouble. Come and see to it, you lazy 
girl I ” 

“ Oh, do stop, Regent ! ” cried Nancy desper- 
ately, after one such appeal. “ There’s nobody 
out there except Rosa, perhaps, and a friend of 
hers. People have a right to the road. They 
have a right to stand and talk out there. Well, 
if you just won’t be quiet till I’ve been round the 
corner with you, I suppose I must go.” Nancy 
picked up her crutches, turned on all the piazza 
lights, and followed Regent, who careered about 
joyously, and then, running ahead to the porch- 
corner, began once more that ominous angry 
growling. Bracing herself on one crutch, Nancy 
laid the other against the house and reaching 
down caught the noisy dog by the collar. 

“ Sh, Regent ! ” she ordered. “ Rosa, are you 
out there ? Please come and show yourself. Then 
Regent will stop.” 

“ Is there trouble here ? Is some one calling ? ” 
demanded a masculine voice from the shrubbery 
out by the front gate. This wasn’t Rosa’s suitor, 
with his funny Swedish brogue. The voice that 
had called was well modulated, — a gentleman’s 
112 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR? 

voice, — and it was a gentleman, very elegant in 
white tennis flannels, who now came quickly for- 
ward, blinking in the bright light of all the porch 
lamps. 

“ Your dog doesn't seem to care for strangers,” 
he laughed. “ I’ve been out there in the road for 
several minutes, wondering if the commotion he 
was making was just fuss or real trouble. Are 
you in any trouble ? Is there anything that I can 
do?” 

“ Nothing, I think, thank you,” said Nancy, 
tugging at Regent’s collar. “ This silly dog has 
an idea that something is wrong, and he made me 
come out to see. I was only talking to him, and 
then I called to Rosa — that’s our maid — thinking 
he might have heard her talking by the other gate.” 

“ There’s no one else anywhere about here, I 
think,” said the man from his place in the shad- 
ows on the little path. “ Your dog is probably 
nervous over the fireworks. My collie always 
runs for the cellar on the evening of July third, 
and camps there till the last gun is fired.” 

Nancy glanced over her shoulder at the bay. 
“ I thought the fireworks were over some time 
ago. Oh 1 ” — as Regent gave a particularly vi- 
cious tug at his collar — “ I think you’d better go. 
He’s never bitten any one, but he certainly acts 
queer to-night.” 

113 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


11 Only excitement over the fireworks,” insisted 
the man pleasantly, moving off down the path. 
“ Nobody about here, I'm sure. Good-evening, 
madam.” 

“ Aren’t you ashamed, Regent,” scolded Nancy, 
“to be stirring up the whole neighborhood and 
making strange gentlemen think something dread- 
ful is happening to us? You feel better now, 
do you ? ” For the dog had quieted suddenly. 
“ Then let’s go into the house, and curl up to- 
gether on the couch and enjoy ourselves till our 
absent family returns. But first we’ve got to call 
in that Spoiled Kitten which you’ve scared most 
to pieces with all your barking.” 

Nancy had scarcely settled herself with her 
pacified pets, when the Lee family trouped nois- 
ily in, all but Dick, who had stayed behind with 
Johnny, the Littles, and Cecilia, to enjoy the 
dancing at the Inn. The children were full of 
the fireworks, and Nancy forgot to mention 
Regent’s odd behavior until she saw Dick at 
breakfast next morning. 

“ Next time you go off and leave me,” Nancy 
told him, “ please take your dog, or at least put 
him to bed. He made such a noise that a strange 
man came in to ask if I was in trouble.” 

“ He did ? ” Dick was all interest. “ Now 
maybe you people won’t fuss so much about his 
1 14 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR? 


chewing a few things up and knocking around 
the place a bit. Maybe now you’ll see that a 
dog’s worth while.” 

“ Worth while I ” Nancy scoffed. “ He made 
such a disturbance that I had to get up and go 
around the piazza with him. And even then he 
wouldn’t stop. I had to hold him with all my 
strength, while the strange man was talking to 
me; and it’s a great wonder he didn’t pull me 
over and hurt my game ankle.” 

“ It’s quite evident,” Dick told her loftily, 
“ that you haven’t heard the news. The Parkes 
had burglars last night.” 

“ Burglars ! ” gasped Nancy. 

“ Burglars on Halcyon Point ! ” echoed Mrs. 
Lee. “ With only one road in, and a watchman 
at the lodge gate to see that no suspicious char- 
acters get by, and two policemen to patrol the 
Point at night. Nancy, I shall never leave you 
alone again ! ” 

“She’s perfectly safe with Regent,” asserted 
Dick. “ He evidently heard ’em prowling around, 
looking for a likely window. Regular porch- 
climber, the Parkes’ burglar was. They found 
his marks going up a pillar of that rose-trellis 
thing they have along the back of the house. He 
climbed up that way, and took out a window- 
screen. He didn’t get much, because Mr. Parke 
ii5 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

happened to come home late from the city, and 
went right up-stairs and scared him off.” 

“ The Smiths at the big house they too haf a 
tief,” the staid Rosa broke into the breakfast con- 
versation. “ The milkman say the little girl she 
scairt mos’ to death.” 

“By a burglar, Rosa?” demanded Dick ex- 
citedly. 

“ Dey tink so,” explained Rosa. “Only he 
don’ take nothin’. He chust scare de little girl. 
Nobody else hear him. But de milkman tell ’em 
Mister Parke have tief, and the cook she say that’s 
what it is.” - 

“ Mr. Parke telephoned the Inn last night for a 
detective,” explained Dick. “ That's how the 
news spread so soon. He wants to get back a pin 
that Mrs. Parke is fond of — an old one, I guess it 
was, that had been in the family. And then he 
says he wants the man caught to protect the other 
cottagers. I say they’d better all get dogs.” 

Nancy shivered. “ I can’t believe any burglars 
were around here last night. The man who came 
in to see about Regent’s barking said there was 
nobody else out there. He thought the fireworks 
had scared Regent. Besides, he does bark some- 
times just for mischief, Dick. You know he 
does.” 

Dick waved melodramatically at the tangle of 
1 16 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR f 

shrubbery that secluded “ The Crags ” from Light- 
house Road. “ Do you really think any one could 
be sure at night, even after a good thorough search, 
that a man wasn’t hidden in there ? This man 
who heard you calling Rosa and quieting Regent 
— did he go in there and hunt around? Well, 
then, why don’t you give my dog credit for some 
sense? He barks occasionally at nothing, I’ll 
admit ; but I never knew him to growl unless 
something was really wrong. I say, Nancy, this 
fellow who talked to you — maybe he was the 
burglar ! ” 

“ Dick ! ” Nancy was highly indignant. “ He 
was no more like a burglar than you are. He had 
on white flannels, and his voice sounded perfectly 
nice and gentlemanly. He owns a collie himself, 
he said.” 

“ Stranger things have happened,” said Dick 
oracularly, “than sweet-voiced burglars in white 
flannels. Were they absolutely and immaculately 
white, Nancy ? Because if he was the Parkes’ 
burglar, I should say he must have climbed their 
rose-arbor before he talked to you.” 

“ I can’t be sure how white his clothes were,” 
said Nancy rather crossly, “ because he stood 
down in the shadow.” 

“ There ! ” Dick triumphed. “ Describe him.” 

Nancy considered. “ He was — about as tall as 
ii 7 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


you. He didn’t look fat. I don’t think he had a 
moustache. He looked and acted perfectly nice 
and gentlemanly, and he came in from the road 
because he thought I was in trouble. I saw him 
coming up from the gate.” 

“ He wasn’t your same gallant Green Knight, I 
suppose?” inquired Dick casually. 

“ Oh, no ! ” Nancy assured him. “ That boy 
wouldn’t bother about a dog’s barking. By all 
we’ve seen and all we’ve heard about him, he’s 
much too unsociable. Besides, it wasn’t he ; I 
could see plenty well enough to be sure of that.” 

“ Um — I suppose you’re right.” Dick got up 
briskly. “ Johnny and Little Peter and I have a 
date.” 

“ Will you help me to swim to-day, Dick ? ” 
demanded Billy anxiously. 

“ If I’m back in time,” Dick promised cau- 
tiously. “ Can’t tell how long we fellows may be 
busy.” 

“ Where you going, Dick ? ” piped curious Jo- 
sephine. “ I wanted you to help me to swim too.” 

“ Never you mind where I’m going.” Dick 
strode off importantly. 

“ Tell the girls to come over and play tennis or 
something,” called Nancy. 

“ I will, if I see them. Can’t keep Johnny 
waiting forever.” 

118 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR? 


On the edge of tears, Nancy watched him go, 
heard Peter sing out, “ You’re late, old man,” and 
the two tramp off together, laughing over something 
Dick had said. Dick had been so superior about 
Regent’s behavior, and now for him to flaunt a 
secret ! Boys did have such fun ! Nancy sat up 
straight, and thought hard of the little white girl, 
— more miserable than usual this morning, accord- 
ing to Rosa’s account, — and then of Mrs. Miggs’s 
grandchild with her “ grit and good sperits.” 
The rule worked. You really couldn’t weep 
because your brother had a secret and forgot to 
deliver your messages when you thought of the 
unhappy child at “ Gray Gables,” or the child 
with grit and good spirits who would probably 
never walk again. 

“ I’m going down to the Birdcage,” she told 
Josephine and Billy, “ to make peanut dolls for 
a little sick girl that Mrs. Miggs knows. Will 
you two help carry the things I want ? And then 
why don’t you go berrying? There must be lots 
of raspberries over on the moor. Maybe you’d 
get enough for a shortcake.” 

The Birdcage was very quiet this morning. 
Nancy, her chair drawn up to the little table, 
worked busily at the peanut family. Sure that 
this time her gift would be appreciated, she took 
extra pains with the little faces, making some as 
119 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


absurd and some as lifelike as possible. Upon the 
dresses, too, Nancy exercised all her ingenuity. 
She made a clown, a ballet dancer, an absurd 
creature as nearly as possible like Jane Learned in 
the costume of the Frabjous Tortoise , 1 a bride, — 
Nancy tinkled her bell for Rosa to bring her out a 
tulle bow for the bridal veil, — and lastly twins, 
dressed in checked gingham with sunbonnets to 
match. 

Nancy set them all up in a row and laughed 
heartily to herself at the motley array they made. 
Then instead of merely laying them away in their 
box, she fastened wires around their necks and 
strung them up in a dangling row, thus construct- 
ing a crude sort of puppet-theater, in which the 
peanut company disported themselves as she pulled 
the strings. 

Nancy, who still loved childish toys, was play- 
ing contentedly with her puppets, planning a play 
for them to tell Mrs. Miggs about, when her at- 
tention was attracted by a snapping sound coming 
up from the rocks below — the “ public rocks ” 
where the little white girl had stood. 

Nancy craned her neck to look over the Bird- 
cage railing. A girl was sitting down there alone 
— a girl older than Nancy — about the age of the 
Fair Oaks seniors, perhaps, and as pretty as that 

*See “Nancy Lee.” 

120 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR f 


spoiled senior beauty, Vera Lawson. She was 
dressed in white, and she wore no hat, but over 
her head she held a gorgeous parasol of gaily 
striped silk, tilting it against the sun so that, for 
Nancy, her face was silhouetted on the bright silk. 
A book and a bag lay on the rock beside the girl, 
but she sat doing nothing except staring forlornly 
out across the bay and throwing little pebbles 
idly at the big rock in front of her. It was the 
click of the pebbles on the stone that Nancy had 
heard. 

Nancy gazed down admiringly at the pretty 
girl in her crisp white clothes under the gay um- 
brella. Yes, she was even prettier than Vera. 
There was more poise, more character in her face. 
Her beauty was of the type that made you sure 
you wanted to know her — sure you would find 
her interesting as well as pretty. Nancy wished 
she would smile. Her soft cheek looked as if it 
would curve adorably when something pleased 
her. But instead, quite without warning, she 
dropped her pretty face on her lap and began, very 
quietly but quite undisguisedly, to cry. 

Nancy drew back, horror-stricken. “ You be on 
the lookout ! ” Mrs. Miggs had advised her. 
“ You’ll find Halcyon Point ain’t such a paradise 
of joy as you might think.” Then the Birdcage 
had revealed the little white girl, and now there 
121 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


was this tragedy hidden under the flaunting gaiety 
of a Roman-striped umbrella — tragedy with such 
a lovely face and such dainty clothes. There was 
magic in the Birdcage lookout — black magic, re- 
vealing misery in the most unlikely places. 
Nancy felt somehow to blame for the pretty girl’s 
trouble ; as if, by being “ on the lookout,” she had 
been a cause, and not merely a witness of her woe. 

Still the pretty girl cried on ; Nancy, drawn 
back well out of sight from below, leaned cau- 
tiously forward occasionally, hoping she would 
have stopped. Something dreadful must be the 
matter. Perhaps the girl had heard bad news. 
Somebody she was fond of had died, or — Vera sug- 
gested this — her family objected to the man she 

loved, or Nancy longed to know, longed 

to comfort the beautiful being. But perhaps she 
would be crotchety, like the little white girl. 
Certainly she wouldn’t want any one to see her 
crying. All at once Nancy hit upon a plan, and 
looked eagerly around for means whereby to ex- 
ecute it. She couldn’t risk the peanut dolls ; the 
paste bottle would break, the scissors were too small. 
It must be the book she had been reading, poor 
thing I Well, it was a stupid book, and it belonged 
to Nancy ; if it got torn or broken in its fall, nobody 
else could find fault. Swiftly Nancy leaned for- 
ward, lightly she tossed the stupid book over the 
122 


WAS HE THE BURGLAR f 


railing and down to the rocks, aiming just to one 
side of the gay umbrella. Then she dodged back 
and waited ; the girl must be given a chance to re- 
gain her composure. 

“ Oh, dear I ” said Nancy loudly, after the 
minute’s pause, and leaned cautiously forward. 
Yes, it was all right to look now ; the pretty girl 
was just giving her flushed cheeks a final dab with 
her damp handkerchief. She had jumped up and 
stood staring in a startled way at the steep bank 
above her. 

“ Oh ! ” she gasped when sh& saw Nancy, “ is it 
your book? I couldn’t imagine where it came 
from.” 

“ I’m so sorry ! ” Nancy’s voice was sweet and 
eager. She did hope this big unhappy girl would 
be more friendly than the little unhappy one. “ I 
dropped it somehow, and I can’t come down, be- 
cause I’ve sprained my ankle. When you come 
back to the road, would you mind just leaving it 
on our piazza ? I’m sorry to bother you, but it’s 
only a step ! ” 

u I’ll bring it right now,” said the pretty girl, 
smiling cordially up at Nancy. “ It’s no trouble, 
and you won’t want to sit there doing nothing. 
Which way do I get up to you ? ” 


123 


CHAPTER VII 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

“ No,” said the pretty girl decidedly, “ I don’t 
like Halcyon very well so far. But then,” she 
added honestly, “ it’s not the fault of the place.” 

Upon close inspection she was even prettier than 
she had looked on the beach, as she sat, a little 
breathless and disheveled from her climb over the 
rocks, under the fence, and straight up the Lees’ 
woody bank to the Birdcage. For she had received 
Nancy’s suggestion that she come round by the 
road with a merry “ Oh, what’s the use? I always 
prefer short-cuts.” 

Nancy smiled at her guest admiringly. “ When 
you know where the prettiest places are, and after 
you’ve met more people maybe ” Nancy hesi- 

tated, because the pretty girl was shaking her head 
decisively. 

" Oh, it’s not that I’m bored or lonely,” she said. 
“ You see,” she dimpled again adorably, “ you see 
I — well, I don’t feel the need of many people right 
at present because I’ve got one person — that is, 
we’ve been married almost a month now. We’re 
124 


A WORLD FULL OF $JJESTIONS 

spending our honeymoon here — in the little cot- 
tage out close by the lighthouse. We’ve taken it 
through August.” 

“ What a lovely long honeymoon ! ” commented 
Nancy politely, hastily rejecting one hypothesis as 
to the cause of the girl’s tears. 

“ Yes,” said the girl curtly. “ Can you cook? ” 

Nancy nodded. “ We had classes at Fair Oaks 
School, where I went last year, and splendid 
chances to practice at the week-end parties that 
Miss Marshall let us have in her bungalow. Of 
course I can’t do anything now but sit, so I’m 
keeping house for mother — planning all the meals. 
I think that part is fun too — almost as much fun 
as the cooking.” 

“ Fun ? ” queried the pretty girl dubiously. “ I 
think all parts of housekeeping are hard work.” 
She rose suddenly and picked up the gay parasol. 
“ I must be going on.” 

“ Oh, please don’t,” Nancy begged her. “ I’m 
tired to death of reading. I thank you for bring- 
ing the book all the same, but I hoped you’d stay 
a long while. Of course, though ” — she sud- 
denly remembered the honeymoon — “ of course 
you want to get back to your husband.” 

“ Oh, it’s not that ! ” explained the bride hastily. 
“ I mean, he’s in town to-day on business. I’ve 
been down to the trolley with him, and now I 
125 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


ought to go home and work.” She glanced at her 
book and her bag. “ I brought those along on his 
account. He was afraid I was going to be lonely, 
so I pretended I would spend the whole morning 
on these rocks, which we both love. But really 
I’m going to sweep and make cake and plan a lot 
of meals ahead. And then of course he’ll be back 
for dinner to-night, so I want it to be an extra-good 
one. But perhaps if you’re here some other day 
when I come to the rocks ” 

“ Oh, yes, please do come again,” Nancy begged 
her eagerly. “ Have you a good story ? I can’t 
seem to find any.” 

The bride held out her book smilingly. “A 
new treatise on comets by the big French astron- 
omer,” she explained. “ Want to borrow it? ” 

“ It’s not exactly my idea of summer reading,” 
laughed Nancy. “ I prefer cook-books.” 

The pretty bride’s face grew suddenly sober. 
“ I wish I did ! It’s a woman’s business to prefer 
cook-books, isn’t it ? ” And raising the bright 
parasol, she went off up the little path. 

“ I beg your pardon, miss.” Somebody down 
on the rocks broke in upon Nancy’s wonderments 
about frivolous-looking brides who read treatises 
on comets in French, under Roman-striped parasols, 
and stop reading to weep passionately about — 
what ? 


126 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

Again Nancy leaned forward over the Birdcage 
railing. It was the little white girl’s nurse. 

“ Oh, good-morning,” Nancy called back to her. 
“ Is Clare sick ? We heard how the burglar fright- 
ened her last night, and I’m so sorry about it.” 

“ Yes, miss, she’s in a state, miss. It was early 
this morning she got frightened. She’s had 
highsterics most dreadfully, and the doctor says he 
won’t answer for her heart, poor lamb. She says 
it was no burglar but sperits, miss, talking in her 
room — moaning and groaning and gibbering like 
nothing mortal. And they surely left sperits’ 
tracks, which is none at all, miss. So we’re quite 
upset, not knowing what to think, and nothing 
seeming quite right and reasonable. I’ve a note 
for you, miss, but I don’t know the house you 
belong in, and besides it don’t seem hardly proper 
to leave a note at a door when it ain’t addressed 
sensible.” 

“ How is it addressed ? ” asked Nancy, politely 
concealing her amusement. 

“ Lady-Bird-in-a-Cage.” The nurse read it out 
solemnly. “ I do think Miss Simms — she that’s 
a governess with book-learning and languages-r- 
might have done better than that.” 

“ But she didn’t know my name,” laughed 
Nancy, “and that certainly makes it awkward 
when you have a note to address.” 

127 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ And awkwarder when you have it to deliver,” 
supplemented the nurse primly. 

“ Oh, you’ve delivered it in exactly the right 
way,” Nancy assured her gaily. “ This is the 
Birdcage, you know, this summer-house up where 
I am. I suppose — no, of course you couldn’t tie 
the note to a stone and throw it up.” 

“I’m afraid not, miss,” said the nurse sadly, “as 
I have nothing to tie it with.” 

“ Then I’m afraid you’ll have to go back to the 
road and in the gate, and — oh, no, I know the 
way ! ” Nancy reached a long arm down under 
the rustic bench and produced a ball of twine. 
She had had it brought out days ago, to tie up 
some of the Birdcage vines, and when it had rolled 
away into a remote corner, she had said “ Bother I ” 
and left it where it was. But now the advantage 
of this was that she could get her note up by hold- 
ing the end of the string and tossing the ball down 
to the staring nurse-maid, who cried “ My stars ! ” 
excitedly and ran forward to catch it. 

“ You’d better have thrown me the end and 
kept the ball,” she admonished careless Nancy. 
“ But as it is, I can make it fast. I’m to wait for 
the answer.” 

Nancy hauled up the ball and the note, and 
opened the latter eagerly. 

“ Maybe I’d like to pertend with you,” was 
128 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

printed in a scrawling childish hand. “ I liked 
the funny dolls.” Here the writing changed to 
neat script. “ I want to thank you. I am sick. 
Come and, see me. Please. — Clarissa Smith.” 

Below was added : 

“Clare grew tired over the note, so I have 
finished it for her. Judge Smith bids me say that 
it would be a great favor if you could come to see 
the child, who must be kept absolutely quiet for 
some days, and who seems to have taken a fancy 
to you. He regrets that we do not know your 
name. — Sarah Simms.” 

“ A fancy to me I ” murmured Nancy. “ How 
does she act when she dislikes people, I wonder ! 
It must be those dolls she’s taken a fancy to.” 
Nancy leaned over the railing. “ Oh,” — she 
broke off with a laugh, — “ I don’t know your name 
either, and it certainly is awkward not to. Mine 
is Nancy Lee.” 

“ I’m Susan, Miss Lee. I’ll tell Miss Simms.” 

“ Well, Susan,” Nancy went on, “ I haven’t any 
paper or pencil out here, and it would keep you 
too long if I hobbled back to the house and wrote 
an answer. Besides, I don’t know what to say. I 
don’t see how I can go. You know, perhaps, that 
Clare wants me to come and see her.” 

“ Yes, miss. It’s her one request, miss. She’s 
that pitiful, cryin’ for her father and shriekin’ 
129 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


with fear of them sperits, and havin’ a turn with 
her heart ever so often.” 

“But you see, I’m lame,” explained Nancy, 
“and I’m not to try to climb in and out of a 
carriage or a motor yet. Doctor Jennings says 
that’s the surest way to set the cure back.” 

“ The same would apply to a flying machine, I 
suppose, miss,” said Susan sadly. “ Because the 
Judge would have that or anything else you can 
name sent round for you. He’s that set on pleas- 
ing Clare.” 

“ Would she like to have my younger sister 
come?” suggested Nancy. “She’s the one who 
brought her the dolls.” 

“ I think not, miss. She’s never cared for other 
children.” 

Nancy considered. “ Well, perhaps I can come 
soon, and this afternoon I’ll send her a comical 

note or something. And perhaps You tell 

her I’m very sorry I can’t come right away, and 
to be on the lookout for a grand surprise.” 

“ Yes, miss, and thank you. It’s diverting she 
needs, the doctor says. But with her mother dead 
long ago and now her father marrying again and 
shipping her off — and me with her — like so many 
old clothes he’s ashamed of, and she idolizing her 
father that’s always idolized her and spoiled her 
something shameful, so her grandfather says she’s 
130 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

a little savage, and Miss Simms says if things 

goes on like this, she’ll have to leave Oh, 

it’s a beautiful time for me, miss, held responsible 
as I am, in a way, for Clare’s tempers. How I do 
run on ! Good-day, miss, and thank you for Clare 
and Judge Smith too.” 

It was fortunate for Nancy Lee that Mrs. Miggs 
arrived by appointment soon after Susan’s depar- 
ture, for Nancy wanted nothing so much as to re- 
lieve her mind. 

“ Your rule doesn’t work, Mrs. Miggs,” she in- 
formed that little lady sternly. 

Mrs. Miggs gave a bird-like start of astonish- 
ment. “ You don’t say now ! What rule are 
you referrin’ to, Miss Nancy ? ” 

“ About being on the lookout,” explained 
Nancy. “ You told me to hunt around for other 
people that had troubles, and I wouldn’t mind 
mine. Well, I didn’t expect to find any others, 
but I needn’t have worried. I’ve found two al- 
ready, besides the one you told me of. And now 
my little girl has been terribly frightened and is 
sick and wants me to come and see her. And the 
pretty bride I’ve discovered to-day wouldn’t tell 
me what was the matter, so I want to go and see 
her and find out. I just can’t stand it to stay 
still here much longer. Being on the look- 
out — it doesn’t make you contented ! It just 
131 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


stirs you up and makes you want to do things for 
people.” 

“ I notice you ain’t crying about it, all the 
samey,” chuckled Mrs. Miggs. 

Nancy chuckled too. “ No, and I don’t feel a 
bit like crying. But I do feel all stirred up and 
as if I positively couldn’t stand to sit around and 
let things go on without me. Can’t you think of 
a remedy for that, Mrs. Miggs? Can’t I go out 
driving to-morrow? ” 

Mrs. Miggs’s black bonnet bobbed agitatedly. 
“ You ask Doctor Sammy, and don’t say I advised 
it, either. My remedy is, you get somebody else 
on the lookout — somebody to do the walking, 
while you do the watching. Can’t you ? ” 

Nancy considered. “ The children are too 
young, and Dick’s certainly no use with the two 
people I’ve discovered so far. And mother would 
say ‘ You absurd child ! ’ about the pretty bride, 
and if Clare was rude to her I should feel sorry 
I’d asked her to go there. Maybe the girls next 
door ” 

“ The very ones ! ” twittered Mrs. Miggs eagerly. 
“ They’ll be jest as interested as you be. But 
don’t you go urgin’ Doctor Sammy to let you 
out too soon. He’s easy-goin’ by nature. Don’t 
you tease him. I’ll be round day after to-morrow, 
when I hope not to be so rushed, and then I’ll 
132 


A WORLD FULL OF gJJESTIONS 

hear all about the new case you’ve discovered, and 
I’ll tell you about my grandchild and those dolls. 
Did you say this new case was a bride ? I admire 
to hear of brides, and I notice they ain’t always 
blissfully happy, either. But a reely miserable 
bride is a thing I never come acrost, I’m happy to 
state.” 

When Cecilia and Alexandra appeared, not long 
before luncheon, their obvious purpose was to se- 
cure Dick for an afternoon tennis-match. 

“ Peter’s gone off and wouldn’t promise to play,” 
explained Cecilia, “but if Dick will and Peter 
won’t, we are going to telephone John Andrews.” 

“ They’re all three off together,” Nancy informed 
them, “ and Dick wouldn’t tell me where he was 
going. I don’t believe you can count on any of 
them. Besides, I’ve got a lovely plan that would 
take up your afternoon.” And without bringing 
in Mrs. Miggs or the Birdcage — still a secret from 
the young people next door — Nancy told them 
about the little white girl’s forlorn plight and 
then about the tearful bride, who hated house- 
keeping and who was spending a lonely day out 
at the cottage by the lighthouse. 

“ So,” concluded Nancy, “ I thought if Alexan- 
dra would go to see Clare and take her a comical 
message from me, and show her how to make a 
puppet-theater out of her peanut dolls, — because 
i33 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


she can play that way so nicely in bed, — and Ce- 
cilia, if you’d go out and call on that girl and feel 
around to find out if there’s any trouble out 
there that we can help about, — why, I should be 
of some use in the world. I had a feeling that 
the bride wanted to tell me something, only she 
couldn’t quite make up her mind to. She’s dear, 
Cecilia, and Clare is sort of winning somehow, 
though she’s so naughty. I’m dying to see the 
inside of 1 Gray Gables ’ myself.” 

Nancy chattered on swiftly, fighting against the 
constrained silence that seemed to have enveloped 
the two cousins. 

“ Oh, Nancy, I couldn’t go to see that queer 
child,” began Alexandra finally. “ You say she’s 
a peevish, irritable little thing. I should hate 
her. I don’t care for children unless they’re very 
attractive. And then the ‘ Gray Gables ’ people 
are so awfully rich that it would seem like push- 
ing in to go there.” 

“ Well, I’m sure Aunt May wouldn’t let me go 
to call on a strange family,” put in Cecilia. 
“ She’s very particular. Besides, I should feel so 
silly. What could I say when I got there ? ” 

“ Oh, Cecilia, you can always think of plenty to 
say,” urged Nancy. “ That’s why I picked you 
out for the bride. And Alexandra makes beauti- 
ful animal pictures. She did some one day for 
i34 


A WORLD FULL OF ^ JJESTIONS 

Bill and Joe. I’m sure any child would love 
them.” Nancy felt suddenly that her case was 
lost. “ But of course if you don’t want to do it, 
let’s not think any more about it,” she went on 
bravely. “ And as soon as Dick comes, I’ll ask 
him about playing tennis. He’ll run over and let 
you know.” 

“ You aren’t peeved with us, Nancy ? ” asked 
Alexandra anxiously. “ You see, it looks differ- 
ent to you, because you know these people.” 

“ Um — yes, of course,” agreed Nancy. “ Only 
— well, I guess I can’t explain it. If Jane Learned 
was here, she’d make you crazy to go.” 

“ Not me,” declared cock-sure Cecilia. “ But 
who’s Jane Learned ? ” 

“ She’s a girl I knew at Fair Oaks School,” ex- 
plained Nancy. “ She’s one of the Learned twins 
— the big one. She’s tall and lank and awkward. 
Her hair is straight and sandy and it won’t stay 
fixed.” 

“ Why doesn’t she curl it?” demanded Alexan- 
dra, smoothing her carefully waved hair, kept in 
perfect order by a scarcely visible net. 

Nancy laughed. “ She won’t bother. Looks 
aren’t Jane’s strong point. She leaves them to 
Christina, the little twin.” 

“Um!” mused Cecilia, tossing her head with 
its loosely arranged, rather untidy tresses. “ I hate 
135 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


bothering with nets and things. Aunt May is al- 
ways scolding me for not bothering more. But I 
do like to get stylish lines. Just now this French 
twist is all the rage.” 

“ I wish you’d learn to do it properly,” cut in 
Alexandra. “ Yours is more of a French snarl.” 

Cecilia shrugged. “ All right. Only what I 
wish is that Nancy would tell us why the highly 
unattractive person named Jane Learned would 
make us — you at least — want to do queer things.” 

Nancy considered. “ I don’t know why. She 
likes queer things herself, and she makes them 
seem so fascinating that you forget they’re queer.” 

Cecilia considered. “ Is she popular with boys ? ” 

“ I’m sure I don’t know,” Nancy told her. “ I 
never saw her with any except once when she vis- 
ited me, and then I was having too much fun to 
notice.” 

“ She sounds freaky,” declared Cecilia. 

“ C. ! ” Alexandra remonstrated. 

“ If she does ” — Nancy struggled hard to keep 
her temper — “ it’s because I can’t make you see 
her any better than I can make you see what I 
mean about going to call on Clare and the bride.” 

“ Yes, that’s all the trouble,” agreed Cecilia 
placidly, rising to go. “ You say this Jane is won- 
derful, but you don’t make us see it. You won’t 
forget to give our message to Dick, will you ? ” 

13b 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

“ I for one should like to meet your friend, 
Nancy/’ added Alexandra, as she followed Cecilia. 

“But she said it just for politeness,” thought 
Nancy hotly, when they were gone. “ Oh, how I 
wish the twins were here ! I wonder if mother 
would mind my having them.” 

“ Hi, Nancy Lee ! ” It was Dick, back from his 
mysterious expedition. “ I say, I’m going to tell 
Rosa to hustle up luncheon. I want to get back 
to my job.” 

“ Cecilia and Alexandra want you to play tennis 
this afternoon, Dick. I said you’d let them know.” 
Nancy delivered the message faithfully the mo- 
ment Dick appeared back from his mission to 
Rosa. 

“ Bother tennis ! ” Dick was too excited to 
maintain his distant pose of the morning. “ I tell 
you, I’ve got a job — and thereby hangs a tale that 
would make your hair curl, Nancy Lee, if it wasn’t 
pretty kinky already. For unless Little Peter and 
Johnny Andrews and myself are highly mistaken, 
you’ve seen Halcyon’s burglar. In fact, you know 
more about him than anybody in these parts.” 

“ Oh, Dick ! That nice polite man in white 
clothes ! You’re absurd.” 

Dick shrugged and smiled at his sister loftily 
through half closed eyes. “ That theory is pretty 
well exploded, my child. As we three fellows 
1 37 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


were on our way over to examine the porch-climb- 
er’s marks on the Parkes’ pergola, we saw something 
that gave us another clue. And on the strength 
of it we’ve been hired by the august owner of * Gray 
Gables ’ to 1 pursue our investigation, and if any- 
thing comes of it to send the bill to him and not 
be afraid to charge top-prices, either.’ I’m quot- 
ing his august judgeship’s exact words.” 

“ Oh, Dick, do begin at the beginning ! ” im- 
plored Nancy. “ Of course you know very well 
that I can’t understand you when you mix every- 
thing up like this.” 

“ Well, exercise a little imagination, my child,” 
suggested Dick blandly. 

“I haven’t any,” sighed Nancy. “Please, 
Dick ! ” 

“ All right.” Dick thawed obligingly, as his 
eye fell on Nancy’s bandaged ankle. “ I’ll tell you 
exactly what happened, seeing it’s you. I mean 
seeing it was you who really discovered this clue. 
Well, I mean if it hadn’t been for your running on 
to him a while ago we never should have thought 
of trailing this suspect. But promise you won’t 
tell the other girls.” 

“ Certainly not,” Nancy promised with a good 
deal of inward satisfaction. “ Hadn’t you better 
rush over and tell them you won’t play tennis, 
Dick ? ” 


138 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

“ I guess they’ll gather it pretty fast from Little 
Peter,” chuckled Dick. “ If you think I’m a bit 
excited, you should see him.” 

“ Oh, Dick, please begin,” begged Nancy. 

“All right.” Dick settled himself to a business- 
like recital. “ We fellows planned last night, when 
we heard about the Parkes’ burglary, to go over 
this morning and look at the porch-climber’s tracks. 
We’d never seen any. And this morning after I’d 
heard about your experiences with my dog, I told the 
fellows that, after we’d seen them, we’d come back 
here and hunt for more to match. That wouldn’t 
absolutely fasten the guilt on White-Flannels, but 
it would prove that Regent wasn’t a fool.” 

“ Well, have you found some marks here? ” de- 
manded Nancy impatiently. 

“Haven’t looked yet. I will, though, after I’ve 
finished this tale that you’re so crazy to interrupt. 
We were going along by Fresh Pond on that little 
short-cut path, when we saw somebody moving 
down in the bushes. Peter thought it was a boy 
going for pond-lilies, and he yelled to him to take 
some to their house, because his mother was anx- 
ious to have some. The fellow ducked down 
among the tall bushes and when he was well out 
of sight he yelled back, ‘Sorry, but I have no 
lilies.’ He was so very mysterious, ducking down 
like, that we got curious — Johnny specially. So 
139 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


we did a bit of scouting off the path and down 
through the tangle of shrubs until we got in sight 
of our man. We watched him for a whole long 
hour by Johnny’s ticker, and it didn’t seem a min- 
ute. Guess who he was.” 

“ The Green Knight, of course,” supplied Nancy 
breathlessly. 

“ Now you’re getting on a bit,” nodded Dick 
approvingly. “ He had on his badge of office all 
right, including the feather. He also had a tape- 
line, a coil of rope, a compass, and a big sheet of 
paper. He’d just got down there, evidently, when 
Peter yelled to him. Well, first he spread the 
paper out on a flat stone, and laid on a lot of 
pebbles to keep it flat — he was fussy about its 
being perfectly smooth. Then he knelt down in 
front of it and stared for a while, first at the paper 
and then at the surrounding scenery. He almost 
saw us once, when he turned suddenly to look 
behind him. Well, after a while he went up to a 
thorn-apple tree not far from the edge of the pond. 
He crawled in under the branches and fastened 
his rope to a stump near the trunk. Then he laid 
down the rope on the ground in a line from the 
stump to a big rock on the shore of Fresh Pond. 
Then he ran back and forth with his tape-line, 
measuring the distance, we took it. Then he 
stared some more at the paper, and went through 
140 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

the whole performance again, starting from another 
stump this time, near the thorn-apple. When he 
got back to his paper again, he stopped his whis- 
tling, which he’d been at steadily since he began 
his performance, and he said, ‘ Oh, shucks ! ' so 
loud that we could hear. Then, after he’d waited 
a while, he said, ‘ Crickets I ’ And then he started 
all over again, from a willow tree close to the edge 
of the pond. We left then, because Little Peter 
still wanted to go to the Parkes’ and see the 
burglar’s tracks.” 

“ Do look and see if we’ve got some too ! ” 
begged impetuous Nancy. 

“ You wait I ” adjured Dick. “ The best of this 
tale is yet to come. That old millionaire that’s 
owned ‘ Gray Gables ’ for ten years and never saw 
it till last week, so he told us, was over at the 
Parkes’ too, looking at the burglar’s trail. He’s a 
funny old fellow — acts more like a jumping jack 
than a judge. But every jump he makes counts, 
and you can see in two minutes that he’s smart 
enough to get a million dollars or anything else 
he specially wants.” 

“ How exciting to have talked to a real live 
millionaire ! ” sighed Nancy enviously. 

“ He didn’t talk at first,” amended Dick. “ He 
just ran around and looked and muttered to him- 
self. Then all of a sudden — Mr. Parke was in 
141 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


town and Mrs. Parke had gone into the house for 
something — he ran up to Little Peter. ‘ Very 
queer burglar, this I ’ he said. ‘ Why so, sir ? * 
asked Peter. The old man acted awfully mad 
about something. ‘ One moment, if you please/ 
he roared, as if he thought Peter had said some- 
thing he shouldn't.” 

“ Oh, Dick I ” Nancy broke in excitedly. 
“ That’s just like our John Smith — Boss Smith, 
you know, out at Camp Sixty-Nine, where Timmy 
lives. He hated to have you ask questions. He 
wanted you to wait and see what he had to say.” 

Dick nodded. “Judge Smith is just like that. 
After he’d stared at Peter hard enough to bore 
holes in him ” 

“ Oh, Dick, that’s exactly like Boss Smith 1 
Do you suppose they can possibly ” 

“ No, silly ! ” Dick cut her short. “ The Smith 
family is too big to have its family resemblances 
count for much. Besides, the point of my story 
is that after he’d bored enough holes to please him 
in Peter, he turned and bored a few in Johnny 
and me, only Johnny wasn’t at all rattled by his 
performances. Then he asked us if we were to- 
gether and we said yes, and then he asked us 
what was our connection with the case, and Johnny 
winked at Peter and me and said we were detect- 
ives from the city. Now, don’t look shocked, 
142 


A WORLD FULL OF QUESTIONS 

Nancy Lee. That’s perfectly true, and it wasn’t 
necessary to say that we were only amateur detect- 
ives, or that our families were spending the sum- 
mer here.” 

“No-o-o.” Nancy was still rather doubtful. 
“ But it didn’t give a very true impression.” 

Dick chuckled. “ It certainly impressed Judge 
Smith all right, exactly as we hoped it would. 
He looked hard at us for a while longer, and then 
he asked us if we had time to come over to his 
place and he’d tell us what happened there. Of 
course we went. His burglar, — if he was a burglar, 
— took nothing. Nobody heard him but the little 
girl, who sleeps on the top floor in a big room with 
six windows. Her nurse-maid, who sleeps next 
door and ran in when the child screamed, thought 
perhaps there was a queer noise mixed with the 
first scream she heard. The little girl said it 
wasn’t a human voice — it was a ghost’s. She 
must be a queer kid. She’s always lived in Italy 
and South America, and she speaks lots of lan- 
guages and believes all the stuff that an old Italian 
nurse taught her. The old man is hot about that 
idiotic nurse, as he calls her. But at the same 
time he’s sure the little girl heard something, 
and didn’t just dream it. We fellows size it 
up that he heard something himself, only he 
thinks it wouldn’t be becoming for a judge and 
M3 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

a millionaire to get himself mixed up with a ghost 
story.” 

“ Well ? ” questioned Nancy, as Dick appeared 
to be lost in meditation. 

“ Oh, yes ! ” Dick came back to the situation 
with a start. “ Did I say we were out on the road 
all this time? Judge Smith didn't want to do 
anything to stir up that little girl, so he decided 
not to take us inside, where she might see us. 
Well, all of a sudden Johnny said to the old 
Judge: ‘Sir, do you think this is the work of a 
professional?’ ‘I do not,’ snapped the Judge. 
‘ Well, neither do I,’ said Johnny — snapping-turtle 
manners and cutting stares can’t put anything 
over on Johnny, you know. ‘ And moreover,’ he 
said, ‘ we already have a clue, my partners and I, 
and I doubt if any other detectives that may be 
working on the case have noted it. Now, how 
would you like to have us follow it up for you ? ’ 
We were awfully proud of Johnny, though we 
didn’t know what in the world he meant. Well, 
the upshot was the Judge snorted and poohed and 
said good-bye, and then ran back and engaged us 
to catch whatever was haunting ‘ Gray Gables ’ on 
the night of July Fourth.” 

“ But what was Johnny’s clue ? ” demanded 
Nancy anxiously. 

Dick stared at her in resentful wonder. “ Can’t 
144 


A WORLD FULL OF gJJESTIONS 

you put two and two together ? ” he demanded in 
his turn. And then, as the children came running 
from the house, he closed the subject with a solemn 
warning. “ Not a breath of this to anybody, re- 
member. I only told you because — oh, to let off 
steam, I guess.” 

But Nancy, woman-like, tried for the last word. 
“ Oh, Dick,” she whispered, “ you don’t think my 
nice Green Knight is a burglar ? He can’t be. I 
don’t see ” 

“ Neither do I — yet,” snapped Dick. “ But he’s 
our clue.” 


i45 


CHAPTER VIII 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 

The Learned twins were coming to Halcyon to 
.visit Nancy Lee I They had been asked and had 
accepted long before the day when Nancy, despair- 
ing of playing her lookout game alone, and find- 
ing Cecilia and Alexandra provokingly unrespon- 
sive, had decided that she needed — oh, bitterly 
needed ! — Jane’s genius for making the com- 
monplace picturesque and the picturesque su- 
premely fascinating. On one of those first miser- 
able days before Mrs. Miggs came to start Nancy 
off with her challenging “ You be on the lookout I ” 
Mrs. Lee had written the twins. 

“ Poor Nancy was hunting for me on the rocks,” 
she told them, “ to ask my permission to invite 
you here for a fortnight’s visit, when she sprained 
her ankle. So you see we are all three a little re- 
sponsible, and the sooner you can come the better.” 

Jane was in favor of starting immediately on 
receipt of Mrs. Lee’s appeal, but Christina insisted 
upon ten days’ delay. “We need some pretty new 
summer clothes,” she declared, “ and if Nancy is 
146 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 


going to be laid up for a month at least and perhaps 
longer, she’ll enjoy us just as much in ten days as 
she will now, and perhaps even more.” 

The course of events proved how right was little 
Christina’s theory. For the ten days were nearly 
gone before Nancy, overwhelmed by a longing for 
some really sympathetic spirits, timidly hinted at 
what she wanted so much, and was met with her 
mother’s laughing rejoinder, “ My dear, I was 
beginning to wonder if I’d made a mistake in ask- 
ing the Learneds to come. I’m really much re- 
lieved to find that you still want them, in spite of 
the friends you’ve made next door and all the 
things you’ve found to do for me and the chil- 
dren.” 

“ Mother,” said Nancy solemnly, “ I’m trying to 
do my duty, and the girls next door are fun 
enough, but the twins are just pure joy — gulps of 
joy, as that funny Hope Haskins would say.” 

There were still two days to wait, and they 
seemed long to Nancy, with nobody to be feet for 
her in the Lookout cases. So she was delighted, 
when, early on the second afternoon, Hope Haskins 
trilled her unmistakable “ whu-whu ” along the 
road and appeared herself at the Lees’ door a 
moment later. 

“ I have an afternoon off,” she beamed joyously. 
“ A whole one ! I’m going to walk around the 
i47 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Point, stopping at all the loveliest places. This is 
my first stop.” 

“ Then I suppose you want to rush right out to 
the Birdcage,” laughed Nancy. 

“ Oh, could we ? ” Hope’s great brown eyes 
flashed with delight. “ You see,” she explained, 
as she danced along by Nancy’s side down the 
woodsy path, “ you see, I needn’t even be back at 
five to-day. My tables have both gone on a picnic. 
I packed them up a perfectly beautiful supper. I 
was so grateful to them for all going the same 
night ! ” 

“ But isn’t this a Dolphin afternoon ? ” asked 
Nancy. 

Hope nodded solemnly. “ Yes. But I knew 
Miss Willis would be glad to let me off and save 
my pay. In fact, I’m expecting any day to have 
her tell me that I’m not needed any longer. I’m 
not, you know. Do you think I ought to tell her 
so, Nancy, instead of waiting for her to tell me ? ” 

“ I don’t understand,” parried Nancy. “ Has 
there been some trouble ? ” 

“ One big trouble,” announced Hope somberly, 
settling herself in the chair opposite Nancy’s and 
staring off dreamily at the shimmering bay. 
“ The trouble with that shop is that it stays so 
new. I used to think at home, where all our 
things are old and shabby and worn out, — I used 
148 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 


to think that to have all new things — good new 
things that would stay new — would be too splen- 
did for anything. But it’s not, always. Oh, 
no 1 ” sighed Hope, her eyes deep pools of woe. 
“ In this case, if I saw the Dolphin things begin- 
ning to look worn out and shabby — if the pretty 
new dishes were nicked or the shiny new floor 
was scratched — I should be glad ! Miss Willis 
would be glad I” 

“ Is it a pretty shop? ” asked Nancy. 

“ Oh, it’s sweet I The tea-room has little low 
round tables and spindly-backed chairs, — Miss 
Willis calls them Windsor chairs, I think, — and 
a beautiful shining row of old brass things above 
the fireplace, and flowers growing in all the win- 
dows and blossoming on all the tables. And then 
there’s a big screened-in piazza with wicker tables 
— tiffin-tables is the name for those. The top of 
each one is a tray that lifts out, and the shelf be- 
low is another tray that lifts out. I love to work 
those trays,” sighed Hope blissfully, “ because 
they’re so convenient, and the people are generally 
so surprised when you begin lifting them around.” 

“ If ever I can come and see your shop, I’ll eat 
on the piazza and let you work the trays for me,” 
Nancy assured her. “ And I’ll smash a cup, 
Hope, and dig my heels into the floor,” she added 
laughingly, “ if you think that will help any.” 

149 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 

“Your coming will help,” said Hope soberly. 
“ Every one who comes helps just so much. But 
it’s dreadfully slow getting started, and the fixed 
expenses go right on. I’m a fixed expense, except 
to-day, of course, when I asked to be let off ; and 
I think I’m unnecessary. With business as bad 
as it’s been so far, Miss Willis could get along 
without me perfectly well. I’m glad I didn’t tell 
her how I was counting on my money. I guess, 
from something she said, that she’d been counting 
on what she expected to make just as hard as I 
was counting on mine.” 

“ You started to tell me about your saving up 
to go to college,” Nancy suggested. “ You men- 
tioned it the day we first met.” 

“ Oh, of course I would ! ” laughed Hope. 
“ Everybody who knows me knows about col- 
lege. Why, I believe even the cows and pigs and 
chickens on our farm know about it. Dolly, our 
horse, certainly does. I used to talk of it to her 
every morning as we jogged along through the 
Cheney woods on the way to school. It was 
pretty dark and lonesome in there, if you didn’t 
have something nice to think about and somebody 
to tell it to.” 

“ You’ve been planning on going for a long 
while, then ? ” 

“ Oh, yes — for four years, — almost ever since I 
150 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 

entered the Sherwin Hollow High School. The 
Hollow is five miles from the Corners, where we 
live. The first year I had to walk it, unless I 
happened to get a lift, but after that father spared 
me Dolly.” 

“ Goodness ! ” Nancy’s face was a study in as- 
tonishment. “ Do you really want to go to col- 
lege as much as that? As much as a ten-mile 
walk every day for a year ? ” 

Hope nodded smilingly. “ For four years, if 
they couldn’t have spared me Dolly.” 

“ Why ? ” demanded Nancy curiously. “ Do 
you expect to have such a splendid time there ? ” 

“ I expect,” said Hope, sitting forward on the 
edge of her chair, “ I expect to find things out 
there. I expect to learn to be wise. And no 
matter what happens to you or how poor you are 
or how hard you have to work in this world, if 
you know things you can be useful and happy. 
Of course,” Hope explained conscientiously, “ you 
can be a wise person without going to college. 
Uncle Luke Parsons, who keeps the store at the 
Corners, is the kind of person I mean, and he 
never went to school but two terms in his life. 
But it seems as if college was the surest way, spe- 
cially as then I can get a good place to teach after 
I’ve graduated, and be able to help them at home.” 
Hope sighed. “ It’s awfully hard to make a farm 

151 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


pay — if it’s a little, hilly, rocky kind of farm, 
and if everything was shabby to start with. 
Father works dreadfully hard, and mother just 
slaves, and we five children help all we can. 
Sometimes I feel mean to be here now, having 
such a beautiful time and planning to use all the 
money for myself. And then I think that maybe 
my wanting an education so much is a sign that 
I can use it. So,” Hope laughed, “ I’ve adopted 
the owl as my sacred bird, and the owl’s hoot 
for my call, and I shall try not to be terribly 
disappointed if Miss Willis has to let me go 
and I have to wait a year before I can enter col- 
lege.” 

“ Nancy, Nancy ! Where are you ? ” It was 
mother’s voice. 

“ In the Birdcage, mother ! ” Nancy signaled 
back. “ Oh, I’m glad you’ve come,” she cried, 
as Mrs. Lee appeared, “ because I want to ask 

you ” She pulled her mother’s head down to 

whisper something in her ear. 

“ Certainly, dear,” agreed Mrs. Lee cordially 
and turned to Hope. “ Nancy thinks perhaps 
you would stay for dinner with us. Will you ? 
Nancy, please read your note. A most impressive 
servant in livery is standing at attention on the 
piazza waiting for your answer.” 

Nancy read : 


152 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 
“ Miss Lee : 

“ Dear Madam : — As you know, my grand- 
daughter, Clarissa Smith (an enfant terrible , but 
with some excuse), commands your presence at 
‘ Gray Gables/ (Commands is quite literal, I re- 
gret to state.) Your physician distrusts the possi- 
ble jolting of horse-drawn vehicles or motor-cars. 
He has no such objection to the Sedan chair. I 
have therefore borrowed one for the occasion from a 
museum where I possess some influence. It awaits 
your pleasure, accompanied by trusty bearers, who 
will bring you to ‘ Gray Gables ’ now, or return to 
get you at any hour specified. When no modern 
invention fills the bill, we must revert to the past. 

“ Yours respectfully, John Smith. 

“ Clarissa has been howling at the top of her 
lungs for an hour, because I let my men eat their 
dinners before unpacking the chair and starting 
on their errand. If you came back with them, a 
second such explosion might be averted/' 

“ Oh, mother, what is a Sedan chair ? ” cried 
Nancy, breaking in upon her mother’s talk with 
Hope. “ And where is this one ? And what shall 
I do about going in it ? ” She thrust the note at 
them. “ Read it, both of you.” 

“ A Sedan chair is the electric runabout of the 
eighteen-thirties,” Mrs. Lee explained laughingly. 
“ You must have seen one, daughter, in a museum 
or in some old print.” 

“ Oh, yes, Nancy, in old pictures, with beautiful 
i53 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


ladies ready for a party stepping into them ! ” broke 
in Hope eagerly. “Little high boxes, with windows 
on the sides for the ladies to peep out through, and 
poles for the men to carry them by. And always 
gallant gentlemen bowing the ladies out and in.” 

Nancy went off in a paroxysm of laughter. 
“ I know what you mean. Just imagine me riding 
in a thing like that up Lighthouse Road and down 
Fresh Pond Trail. Why, it’s absurd ! ” 

“ I think it’s lovely 1 ” said Hope. 

“ Judge Smith must have an extraordinarily 
fertile imagination,” put in Mrs. Lee. “ And he 
must be very fond of that ‘ enfant terrible * to go to 
so much trouble to satisfy her whims. I’m afraid 
you really ought to go now, Nancy, if Hope will 
excuse you for a while.” 

“ Oh, I’ve thought that all out,” announced 
Hope practically. “ Of course you’d go now — you 
wouldn’t take the change of postponing a ride in 
a Sedan chair. And I’ll walk around the Point, 
as I planned at first, and come back to supper, if 
you really want me to. I’m honestly glad it’s 
happened that I can get in both the walk and the 
supper, because my chances for rocks and pools 
are so very uncertain.” 

Twenty minutes later the dwellers on Halcyon 
Point were treated to the unusual spectacle of a 
i54 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 


genuinely antique Sedan chair, which had been 
brought to “ The Crags,” with its four bearers, in 
the “ Gray Gables ” motor-truck, being gingerly 
carried along the shore roads by a perspiring gar- 
dener, an embarrassed chauffeur, an irate butler, 
and an amused young secretary. None of the 
four could see Nancy — this was the secretary’s 
one regret, — and Nancy could not see them, as 
she sat, convulsed with laughter, on the narrow 
straight-backed seat, her ankle buried in a nest 
of pillows which strewed the bottom of the chair. 

“ Oh, Hope ought to be riding here I ” thought 
Nancy. “ She’d imagine she was some famous 
lady in history going to some famous place. I 
can’t do anything but giggle at the ridiculousness 
of everything.” 

It was a hot, drowsy hour of early afternoon, and 
most of the dwellers on Halcyon Point missed the 
sight of Nancy’s strange progress. But down in 
the swamp by Fresh Pond a boy’s sharp eyes spied 
the queer cavalcade, and the boy dashed at top 
speed up the bushy slope to the road to investigate. 
Being very fond of reading history, the boy recog- 
nized the Sedan chair instantly, and his jaw 
dropped in amazement as he stood by the roadside 
watching this curious anachronism move toward 
him. His fascinated gaze drew Nancy’s, and she 
recognized her Green Knight. Peering out of the 
i55 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


little window, she nodded brightly, and the boy, 
after a moment of frowning wonderment, nodded 
back at her and pulled off his green cap with a 
flourish. He was certainly a nice-looking boy. 
He didn't look a bit queer or freaky. He was 
frankly curious and amused at the Sedan chair, 
and Nancy felt sure that if she knew how to stop 
her bearers — and dared to use her knowledge — 
the Green Knight would come and open the chair 
door and talk with her in the most sociable fash- 
ion. It was perfectly ridiculous to think that he 
had anything to do with the Parkes’ burglary or 
the “ Gray Gables ” scare. Nancy resolved to 
make Dick see this at the earliest opportunity. It 
wasn't nice to track a strange boy around and try 
to pin horrid meanings to all his silly little amuse- 
ments. Dick and Johnny and Little Peter were 
hidden down by the pond now, probably, watching 
him. Nancy chuckled delightedly to think how 
angry they must be because they couldn’t come up, 
too, to investigate her queer equipage. She hoped 
the Green Knight would stumble on them, on his 
way back to whatever he was doing, and embarrass 
them fearfully. 

“ Well, Miss Lee, where there’s a will there’s a 
way I Anybody who knows me knows that I gen- 
erally get what I want. But I work pretty hard 
for most of it.” 


156 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 


They had turned in under the porte-cochere of 
“ Gray Gables,” the bearers had halted, and, just 
as in Hope’s account of Sedan chairs, a gallant 
gentleman had flung open the chair door. Only 
he was, perhaps, a little old to fit into the picture. 

“ Oh ! ” cried Nancy Lee delightedly at sight of 
him. “ I thought maybe it was you all the time, 
but Dick said it couldn’t be.” 

“Humph!” said “ Jno.” Smith who had “in- 
terests ” in Pine Ridge, Michigan, and who had 
engineered the return of Timmy Lee Marshall 
Raftery, — “ Boss ” Smith, whose telegrams and 
letters, with their finicky, feminine beginnings and 
their bold, magisterial conclusions, had kept the 
spring term at Fair Oaks in a state of pleasant ex- 
citement. “ Humph ! ” said Judge Smith, million- 
aire owner of Halcyon’s show-place, which he had 
never troubled to visit till this summer. “ I don’t 
know who in thunder Dick is, but you’re the one 
who asked the most questions out at Pine Ridge. 
I know you ! ” 

Nancy caught a twinkle in his keen eyes. “ Is 
Clare the grandchild that was a caution or the one 
you hadn’t ever seen ? ” she demanded. 

“She’s both!” roared Judge Smith. “The 
other caution is a tame — a tame robin compared to 
Clare. But then Clare’s sick. Clare’s lonesome. 
She’s been brought up like a little savage by a fa- 
157 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


ther that Well, he’s my son, so I’m doing my 

best by Clare. Carter,” — he turned abruptly to the 
secretary, — “ my granddaughter’s cot is out by the 
second fountain ; take this young lady there. Help 
her out with great care. Return when she tells 
you to. I’ll be back from Michigan some time 
next week. Good-bye, Miss Lee.” 

Before she had time to ask a word about Timmy, 
the chair door swung shut and Nancy was swaying 
down a gravel path, through shrubberies, past rose 
arbors and rock gardens, to the shady nook, where, 
beside a splashing fountain that dripped out of a 
mossy wall into a pool of pink water-lilies, the 
little white girl lay listlessly on her little white cot. 
She hardly looked at the Sedan chair. She never 
smiled when Nancy leaned out with a gay greeting. 

“ Thank you for those little dolls,” she mur- 
mured faintly, when Nancy was established in a 
chair by her side. “ I liked those little dolls. 
Susan said the ghost came ’cause I’m so naughty. 
So I say thank you now every time.” 

“ I’ll show you a nice way to play with the dolls, 
if you’ll give me the box,” said Nancy, wrung with 
pity for the frightened, white-faced little creature. 
“ A way you can play in bed.” 

The child shook her head. " I wanter play per- 
tend. You said it was fun. Do you know how ?” 

“ Why, yes, I know how. Shall I be a grown-up 
158 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 

lady, and you be another grown-up lady, and the 
dolls can be our families ? ” 

Again the child shook her head. 11 You be a 
ghost and go and hide in the bushes and scream. 
I know it was a ghost I heard. My nurse Annun- 
ciata said ” 

“ I don’t know how to do that kind of pretend,” 
Nancy announced briskly. “ Did you ever go to 
the theater and see a play ? ” 

“ Oh, yes I ” The child clasped her hands ex- 
citedly. “ Oh, with my own father in London, to 
see a play about a little boy — a little boy with 
wings, and he had a little house up in the 
sky ” 

“ I know him,” Nancy broke in quickly. “ His 
name was Peter Pan, wasn’t it? I thought so. 
He’s the loveliest pretend-boy that ever was. 
Don’t you think my little house that I call * The 
Birdcage ’ is a good deal like his ? ” 

“ No ! ” The little white girl’s scorn was scath- 
ing. “ Why can’t you be a ghost and scream ? ” 

“ Because I don't know how to pretend that,” 
Nancy insisted. “ Ghosts are a very horrid kind 
of pretend, I think, Clare. There’s nothing real 
about them, you know. When you think you 
hear them, it’s not so. When you think you see 
them, that’s not so either. But I’ll show you how 
to have a lovely play with the dolls. The box can 
i59 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


be the theater. If we had the dolls, and some 
string ” 

“ Annunciata said there were ghosts,” persisted 
the tired little voice. “ And Susan said ” 

“Susan was just teasing you, darling,” broke in 
the nurse sadly. “ I’ve told you so over and over. 
And I never will tease again, no matter how 
rude you speak to me. I was only joking.” 

“ Annunciata was joking too, I think,” Nancy 
took up the tale. “ She was trying to amuse you 
with stories ” 

“ All right,” agreed the child wearily. “ You 
can show me about the theater if you want to.” 
She brightened a little when Nancy made the 
puppets dance. She even smiled when Nancy 
promised her a Peter Pan doll, with wings, to add 
to the collection. 

“ I guess your mother would like you to go 
home now,” she announced presently. 

“ Oh, Clare,” interposed Susan. “ That’s no way 
to treat Miss Lee, when she’s taken all the trouble 
to come here in that outlandish cart.” 

“Grandfather had all the trouble about that, 
Susan,” corrected Clare acutely, “ and he only did 
it because I cried so. It makes me worse to cry,” 
she concluded complacently. 

“ I really must go now,” Nancy assured Susan, 
who went off after the Sedan chair. 

160 


A RIDE IN A SEDAN CHAIR 


“ I thought of course you could pertend a ghost,” 
the child sighed, when Susan was out of ear-shot. 

Impulsively Nancy reached down and gathered 
the thin little mite in her strong young arms. “I 
can only pretend real things, Clare — ladies and 
birds with broken wings and — and any real things. 
Ghosts aren't anything, Clare. If you ever think 
you hear one or see one, you just remember that. 
They’re not anything at all. So don’t you ever be 
scared about seeing one or hearing one. Now 
you’ll remember, won’t you ? ” 

“ I’ll try to.” The child snuggled ^lose in 
Nancy’s arms. “ Only, when I was little, I was so 
sure — Annunciata said ” 

“ Never you mind her I ” Nancy insisted. “ Your 
mother never said so. Mothers are the ones to go 
by. My mother told me, and that’s how I know. 
Remember.” 

Susan was coming back. Clare stiffened a little, 
and wriggled away from Nancy. 

“ You come again,” she ordered imperiously, 
“ and bring that doll. Soon, ’cause I might forget 
what you said. My mother never told me any- 
thing.” 

Nancy rode back in the Sedan chair with no 
consciousness of its absurdity. She was too busy 
thinking how to put wings on a peanut doll. 
Perhaps Hope could invent a way. As she liked 
161 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


mermaids, she probably liked fairies also, and 
Peter Pan was a kind of fairy. “ Oh, dear, it’s 
awfully easy to promise things ! ” sighed Nancy 
Lee. 


162 


CHAPTER IX 


THE DINNER PARTY 

But there was no time to consult Hope about 
the winged doll. To be sure, she came down 
Lighthouse Road just behind the Sedan chair, 
joyously reveling in its quaintness all the way. 
But at the very same minute, across from the 
house next door strolled Cecilia Green and Alex- 
andra Little, and walked up on the piazza with an 
unmistakable air of being expected. They were 
dressed up, too. Cecilia had on the pink dress that 
she had worn to the Fourth of July dance at the 
Inn, and Alexandra wore a filmy white linen, 
crusted over with the daintiest of hand-embroidery 
and set off by a wide rose-colored girdle. Mrs. 
Lee came out to meet them all. 

“ You’re coming at exactly the right time, all 
of you.” She beamed around the circle, after she 
had introduced Hope and the neighbors. “ Nancy, 
I’ve enlarged your party to four. Dick, I found, 
is staying for dinner with the Andrews family, 
and the children insist upon my taking them for 
a picnic. Nancy, their favorite companion on such 
163 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


excursions, can’t go. So, as I thought you and 
Hope would rattle around here all by yourselves, I 
asked these girls to come over and keep you com- 
pany.” 

“ That’s very nice.” Nancy smiled cordially at 
the two added guests, but inwardly she felt de- 
cidedly perturbed. She liked Cecilia and Alex- 
andra — especially Alexandra, with her little shy, 
sweet way of lingering behind to explain some 
impulsive utterance of her thoughtless cousin’s. 
But Hope’s eyes — and Hope’s queer fancies — and 
Hope’s gulps of joy — they didn’t somehow fit with 
Cecilia’s evidently regretful surprise that Dick was 
to be away this evening, nor with the puzzled, ap- 
praising glance that Alexandra bestowed on the 
strange girl’s wispy, straw-colored hair and faded, 
old-fashioned blue dress. 

“ Alexandra never noticed her eyes ! ” sighed 
Nancy, and began a valiant struggle to make her 
dinner-party a success. 

She made them all laugh over the Sedan chair 
and Judge Smith’s manners, and gasp at the 
strange coincidence that involved the home-com- 
ing of Timmy. Noticing that Alexandra was not 
much interested in Timmy, Nancy heroically sup- 
pressed a desire to talk about him for the rest of 
the evening, told them about Clare, and then, for 
Cecilia’s special benefit, doubled back to her en- 
164 


THE DINNER PAR TT 


counter with the Green Knight. And that led 
inevitably to the story of Nancy’s being rescued 
by him on Baxter’s Beef. 

“ How romantic ! ” sighed Cecilia, thoroughly 
interested at last. “ You certainly ought to have 
stopped and talked to him to-day, Nancy. You 
say your mother wants to see him again. You 
ought to have asked him over here, with that as 
an excuse. Do get hold of him ! Now that our 
boys are off so much, it’s dull as dull here.” 

“ Do you have all day to do as you like in ? ” 
inquired Hope solemnly. 

“ Why, yes, of course,” Cecilia told her. “ Un- 
less Aunt May wants something of us — like arrang- 
ing flowers for the house or an errand down at 
Rocky Neck. Why?” 

“ Oh, I was just wondering” — Hope’s eyes were 
dreamy — “ how long it would be before I should 
find it dull here, without boys. I think boys are 
lots of fun, but when I can have the sea, I don’t 
care for anything else. Just me and the tide-pools 

and the rocks and the wet wind in my face 

Oh, I had the most blissful walk to-day, Nancy, 
but the sea-anemones have moved away.” 

“ Had any mermaids moved in in their places ? ” 
demanded Nancy quizzically. 

Hope flushed. “ How did you know that I’d 
named that particular pool the Mermaid’s Delight, 
165 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Nancy? Fm sure it’s the loveliest sea-pool in the 
whole world.” 

“ What are you two talking about?” demanded 
Cecilia rather impatiently, and Nancy explained 
how she had made friends with Hope by showing 
her all the loveliest spots on Baxter’s Reef. 

“ I’ve heard about that rock, but I haven’t cared 
about going out there,” said Cecilia indifferently. 
“ I suppose I’ve outgrown liking to climb around 
on rocks.” 

“ We’ve been to the shore every year for so long, 
you see.” Alexandra turned to Hope in pretty 
apology. “ That’s what Cecilia means.” 

“ And I never saw the ocean till this summer,” 
Hope, in her turn, explained brightly. “ So I 
suppose all my raptures are silly, but oh, I just 
can’t seem to suppress them ! ” 

This time Alexandra couldn’t help noticing 
Hope’s eyes, and remembering that she had seen 
them before, and that Peter, who noticed things 
like that more than she, had spoken about seeing 
just such blazing brown eyes down at the Inn and 
wished he knew their owner. 

“ I wonder ” — Alexandra smiled again at Hope, 
— “I wonder where I’ve met you before. I’d just 
decided that it was at Maponset summer before 
last, but if you’ve never been to the sea be- 
fore ” 


1 66 


THE DINNER PARTY 


“ Never,” said Hope decisively. “ But of course 
you might have seen me this summer at the 
Inn.” 

“ Oh, are you staying there ? ” broke in Cecilia 
impulsively. “ Do you know the Shaw boys? ” 

Hope shook her head. “ I don’t know anybody 
except the people at my tables and Mrs. Augustus 
Walker, who talks to the waitresses about votes 
for women. I’m a waitress at the Inn, and I pass 
ices at the dances. I’ve seen you two at several 
dances. Oh, and once you came to tea at ‘ The 
Sign of the Dolphin ’ ! I work there too, but you 
didn’t see me, because I was making extra sand- 
wiches behind a screen. It was our big day, you 
see. The sandwiches ran out, and the lemon.” 
She turned to Nancy for sympathy. “ We were 
so hopeful that day ! ” 

“ Oh, yes ! ” agreed Nancy absently. She was 
watching a scornful flash in Cecilia’s eyes answer 
Alexandra’s shocked, indignant glance, and trying 
desperately to think how she could smooth things 
over. 

“ Hope’s earning money so she can go to col- 
lege this fall,” she explained rapidly. “ Is either 
of you going? ” 

“ Oh, no ! ” chorused the cousins icily. 

“ Lots of the Fair Oaks girls go,” volunteered 
Nancy hastily, “ and I think it must be splendid, 
167 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


but I’m afraid I’m not bright enough. Did you 
two girls like the Dolphin tea-shop ? I’m going 
there the first day I can get so far.” 

“ Why, it’s rather small and stuffy, I thought,” 
began Cecilia. 

“ The big piazza ” Nancy broke in. 

“ It looked very sunny,” Cecilia cut her short 
stiffly. 

“ Oh, C. ! ” Alexandra remonstrated. “ The 
sandwiches were very nice.” She turned to Hope, 
who was staring from one to another of the three 
girls in a puzzled way. “ Perhaps we had some 
of yours — the extra ones you had to make. Any- 
how, they were very nice.” Alexandra’s voice 
was polite, but likewise very cold and unenthusi- 
astic. 

“ Oh, thank you for liking them ! ” cried Hope, 
ignoring the coldness. “ I’m sorry there were 
other things you didn’t like. I’m afraid the Dol- 
phin wasn’t at his best that day. It’s hard to be 
always at your best, isn’t it? But the Dolphin 
needn’t have chosen our biggest day to act so 
cranky. He ought to have made an effort and 
put his best foot forward, as my mother is always 
advising me to. Oh ! ” Suddenly the meaning of 
Cecilia’s frank ill-temper and Alexandra’s chilly 
politeness rushed upon Hope. “ Oh, I haven’t 
done it to-night ! This is my big day — the love- 
168 


THE DINNER PARTY 


liest I’ve had in this lovely place — and I — I didn’t 
stop to think how my — best foot — would look to 
you. ‘ Don’t be ashamed of poverty, but don’t 
parade it.’ That’s another of mother’s sayings.” 
She turned appealingly to Nancy. “ I’m sorry,” 
she said simply. 41 1 might just as well have kept 
still about what I’m doing here.” 

44 We’re going to town to-morrow,” announced 
Cecilia, before Nancy could speak. 44 There’s a 
shoe sale at Carterson’s. I’m going to buy some 
white buck pumps with black trimmings. I 
think they’re awfully smart.” 

44 I want gold slippers,” sighed Alexandra. 
44 But even at the sale mother may think they 
cost too much. I don’t believe she’ll let me pay 
more than six dollars, and they’ll probably cost 
eight.” 

Hope answered Nancy’s comradely smile with 
an understanding flash of her wonderful eyes, and 
then listened in aghast silence to the discussion 
about shoes. Eight dollars — and Alexandra said 
they tarnished quickly and couldn’t be cleaned. 
It amounted apparently to eight dollars for about 
three evenings’ wear of the shoes. And eight 
dollars was almost one-twelfth of a hundred, and 
two hundred would give you a year at college, if 
you could get a scholarship. 

Before the topic of new shoes was exhausted, 
169 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Mrs. Lee and the children and Dick and Little 
Peter came in, the two parties having met at the 
gate. In a minute Hope said she must go. 

“ Dick and I will walk down with you,” Mrs. 
Lee told her. “ I have an errand to do at the 
Inn. Yes, Joe, I’m coming ! ” she answered a 
cry for help from up-stairs. 

“ Let’s all go to the Inn,” suggested Cecilia 
quickly. 

“ Oh, C. ! ” cried thoughtful Alexandra. “ You 
and I would better stay with Nancy. Besides, 
mother said she wants to know just where we are 
in the evenings.” 

“ Peter could tell her,” muttered Cecilia, sink- 
ing ill-humoredly back in her chair. 

Peter was chatting gaily with Hope. “ We met 
this afternoon,” he explained. “ I was out on 
Baxter’s Reef reading, and suddenly I heard some 
one say, ‘ Oh, you darling ! ’ Of course I investi- 
gated, but the young lady said she was addressing 
a starfish.” 

“ That’s a fine way to scrape acquaintance, isn’t 
it ? ” commented Cecilia loftily. “ Making ridicu- 
lous remarks, out loud, to starfish ! ” 

Hope turned to her critic, her great eyes deep 
with questioning. “ Maybe you’d talk to star- 
fish,” she said gently, “ if you had only about 
four chances in a summer to hunt for them, and 
170 


THE DINNER PARTY 


if it was your first year by the sea, and if Miss 
Little or some friend wasn’t always with you to 
listen to your raptures.” 

“ No, she wouldn’t,” cried Peter gaily. “ Not 
if a strange and attractive youth, like me, for ex- 
ample, was also within hearing. Would you, Miss 
C. Green ? ” 

Before Cecilia could answer, Mrs. Lee came in, 
and carried off Hope and Dick. 

“ I like that girl,” announced Peter, looking 
after them. “ There’s something about her that 
makes you sit up and take notice.” 

Nancy could have hugged Peter for that speech. 
Instead she only smiled at him. “ Her eyes are 
beautiful, aren’t they ? ” she said. 

“ I can’t see why you two are so crazy about 
her,” broke in Cecilia irritably. “ Can you, Alex- 
andra ? ” 

“ No — not exactly,” Alexandra hesitated. “ But 
perhaps we haven’t seen enough of her yet to 
judge.” 

" If you treated her to any more remarks like 
the one you made about the starfish episode, Miss 
C. Green,” Peter told his cousin bluntly, “ she 
probably isn’t struck all of a heap with your 
charms. I say, Al, mother sent me to bring you 
two home. Wants to show off her chickens to an 
old family friend who’s turned up for the evening. 

171 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

If mother lights on me for delaying, you help me 
out.” 

“ Very well,” Alexandra agreed placidly. “ I’m 
always helping one or the other of you out of 
something, and getting blamed myself, but I don’t 
specially mind. Good-night, Nancy. I’ve had a 
lovely time.” 

“ So have I,” echoed Cecilia. 

“ I certainly haven’t,” Nancy reflected, when 
she was left to herself ; and turning to a fresh page 
in the Red Journal she relieved her feelings by 
writing out : “ Things the Twins Must Do.” 

“ First,” ran item one on the list, “ make 1 The 
Sign of the Dolphin ’ a perfectly grand success. 

“ Second,” continued the catalogue, “ make 
Hope a perfectly grand success, so that Cecilia 
and Alexandra will have to acknowledge that 
she’s a splendid girl and wish they’d been nice to 
her. Third, investigate the tearful bride. Fourth, 
help me with Clare, and that doll I promised to 
make. Fifth, talk about Timmy as much as I 
want to. Sixth, go to see Mrs. Miggs’s grandchild 
and tell me all about her. 

“ If they divide things up and work hard, 
maybe they will have a little time off for swim- 
ming and tennis and dances, poor twins ! How 
glad I am they’re not snobs or boy-crazy or afraid 
of seeming queer. They’ll like Hope and think 
172 


THE DINNER PARTY 


it’s fine of her to work so hard for an education, 
and Jane will make those other two see it. Why 
can’t I make people see things ? I am as dumb 
as an ” 

“Hello, Nancy I ” It was Johnny Andrews, 
badly out of breath, and much excited. “ No, I 
can’t stop. Dick here? Well, when he comes, 
you tell him it’s so. That’s all — -just ‘ it’s so.’ 
He’ll understand.” 

“ But I don’t,” teased Nancy. “ If you want me 
to deliver your message correctly, you’d better ex- 
plain it. A person can’t remember things she 
doesn’t understand. I shall probably turn it right 
around. I’ve had the same experience in geome- 
try, and I know how it affects me.” 

“ I guess you can remember ‘ it's so ’ for ten min- 
utes or thereabouts,” retorted Johnny cheerfully. 
“ Did Little Peter go with Dick ? ” 

Nancy explained. 

“ Well, I shan’t stop there to tell him any- 
thing,” said Johnny loftily. “ Little Peter’s a 
quitter. He went off with a book this afternoon, 
— mooning around on the Reef with a story- 
book.” 

“ He had a very interesting time out on the 
Reef,” announced Nancy tantalizingly. “ I don't 
believe you were doing anything half so nice.” 

“ Probably not,” agreed Johnny, without dis- 
i73 


NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


playing the faintest bit of curiosity over Nancy’s 
statement. “ My message hasn’t anything to do 
with this afternoon. It has to do with this even- 
ing. Don’t you forget to give it to Dick. Good- 
bye.” 

Nancy speculated very hard over the cryptic 
message. Perhaps Dick would tell her what it 
meant; but he might be in one of his secretive, 
lofty moods. Of course it was something about 
the Green Knight. They had all been watching 
him in the afternoon, until Peter deserted ; and 
Johnny had evidently been watching him through 
the evening. Some suspicion that they had had 
about him Johnny had confirmed. It couldn’t 
be that he had actually proved the Green Knight 
to be the Parkes’ burglar or the disturber of “ Gray 
Gables,” because in that case Johnny, who was ex- 
citable at any time, would have been far more ex- 
cited than he was to-night. No, it must be some 
smaller thing that he had discovered, something 
that tightened the net of suspicion around the 
strange boy. 

11 1 just wish they’d stop watching him,” sighed 
Nancy. “ He’s such a nice-appearing boy. Of 
course he can’t help being a little queer, with 
such a queer mother, and nobody else in the 
family. I just wish somebody would watch Dick 
and Peter and Johnny for a while — find them 
174 


THE DINNER PARTY 


sneaking around in the bushes and spying in the 
dark. They’d better be careful, or some of the 
real detectives that Mr. Parke hired will be after 
them.” 

When Dick finally arrived, he proved to be in 
quite a mellow mood. “ What’s so ? ” He an- 
swered his sister’s demand for enlightenment. 
“ Why, that your friend Green Cap digs the holes 
that appear every morning down by Fresh Pond, 
or some of ’em. Great, deep holes, — oh, four or 
five feet deep, and more than that square. 
Johnny was to trail him to-night. We take turns 
on night work,” explained Dick importantly. 

“ Dick,” demanded Nancy solemnly, “ what has 
digging a few holes, or fussing around measuring 
distances from one tree to another, to do with be- 
ing a burglar ? ” 

“What has it to do with earning an honest 
living ? ” demanded Dick. 

“ He isn’t earning a living any more than you 
are, Richard Arlington Lee,” scoffed Nancy. 
“ He’s just having fun.” 

“ Queer fun,” sniffed Dick. 

“ Why don’t you ask him about it, instead of 
spying around ? ” 

“ If it’s anything crooked, he’d be likely to tell 
us, wouldn’t he ? ” growled Dick. “ Besides, a 
fellow can’t get near enough to ask him anything. 
i75 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


He’s as slippery as an eel. If you can catch him, 
you’re welcome to see what you can find out.” 

“ I’ll attend to it,” said Nancy calmly, and added 
a final item to the twins’ formidable list. “ Stop 
this nonsensical business about the Green Knight’s 
being a burglar. If anybody can catch an eel and 
make him talk the Terrible Twins can.” 


CHAPTER X 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 

“ If we go off exploring this morning and leave 
you here alone, N. Lee, in your wonderful old 
Lookout, you’ve got to promise us one thing.” 
Jane Learned, perched comfortably on the Bird- 
cage railing, fixed her hostess with a bland, de- 
termined stare. 

“What?” demanded Nancy absently, patting 
into shape the green cushion whose cover she had 
just finished sewing up. The green covering and 
the down pillows for the Birdcage had come on 
the same train with the Learned twins, and while 
three tongues flew, exchanging news, exclaiming, 
laughing, and sighing over the things the summer 
had brought to the Fair Oaks circle, Nancy and 
Christina had kept their fingers busy too. 

“ I can’t sew and talk,” Jane had excused her- 
self. 

“ You can’t sew at all,” Nancy had corrected 
her. “ I don’t want my Birdcage cushions to look 
like the hats you make, Jane dearie ; so talk ahead 
and don’t feel at all guilty about not helping with 
the cushions.” 


1 77 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


How they had chattered I Nancy had the most 
to tell, because, in addition to her own adventures, 
all the girls, hearing of her accident, had written 
her long, newsy letters. Margaret Lewis was busy 
tutoring a brother who hadn’t passed his grade in 
the public school. Margaret was worried about 
going back to Fair Oaks ; her father and the little 
boys needed her dreadfully, she could see that 
more clearly every day. 

“ But so do we need her ! ” sighed little Christina. 
“ She’s so steadying.” 

Lloyd was in despair over Jeanne’s horseman- 
ship. “ She falls off for no reason at all,” wrote 
Lloyd, “ and my pony Ginger won’t stay behind 
any other horse, so my neck is lame most of the 
time from turning around to see whether she’s on 
or off. But Jeanne is happy here in this ‘ queer 
big land of America,’ and poor mother loves to 
have her with us, because she laughs at everything 
and sings around the house. I’m trying to see 
more to laugh at in life, to amuse mother.” 

Kittie Westervelt was in the seventh heaven of 
bliss, because a boy named Cyril Baynes, who had 
an automobile, took her riding almost every day ; 
and Plain Mary Smith declared that Doctor Jim 
and Mrs. Doctor Jim were perfectly splendid, that 
she was growing almost slim, gardening and berry- 
ing and hill-climbing on Doctor Jim’s Berkshire 
178 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


farm, and that her pink chiffon dress, the prin- 
cess’s “ wedding present ” to her, was a dream 
“ I don’t want to grow vain,” wrote Plain Mary 
apologetically, “ but when you’ve never had any 
becoming clothes and never thought you could 

have any, a pink chiffon dress like mine is 

Oh, you know, Nancy, what I’m trying to say.” 

“ She means,” Jane interpreted sagely, “ that 
it’s an epoch-making experience — an adventure in 
the pure joy of living. Well, none of ’em can 
beat you in the matter of adventures, N. Lee. 
You always did attract excitement, enviable 
mortal ! ” And then Jane proceeded to try to 
extract the promise from Nancy concerning what 
she should and should not do while her two guests 
were off on a morning stroll. 

“ It’s just exactly this,” she explained, in answer 
to Nancy’s question. “ You’re not to be on the 
lookout any more at present. You’re not to try 
to find any more unfortunates. Your private 
collection of Waifs and Strays is already as big as 
we can handle. We’re quite willing, of course, to 
be Perfect Guests, and busy Wonder-Workers, and 
to live up to all the vows of the Triangle about 
coming to the rescue of one another. But already 
we’ve got mysteries to solve, strange ladies to find 
and champion, a business to boom, a child to divert 
— that’s fully two weeks’ work, you know, N. Lee.” 

179 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


“ All right,” laughed Nancy. “ I hereby sol- 
emnly promise not to be on the lookout while 
you’re gone. I’ll turn my back to the rocks and 
mend stockings like anything. Because,” she con- 
fessed, “ there does seem to be a sort of black magic 
about this Birdcage. Almost everything I’ve dis- 
covered has been from here.” 

“ Then hadn’t you better go back to the piazza ? ” 
suggested earnest little Christina, who took the 
matter of arranging Nancy’s tangled Lookout cases 
very seriously indeed. 

But Nancy refused to move ; the new green cush- 
ions were so pretty, more white irises were coming 
out in her private garden, and there was a breeze 
down in the Birdcage that didn’t reach the piazza 
at all. So, leaving her in her favorite retreat, 
Christina and Jane, armed with a map of the Point 
that showed the Bride’s cottage, the Green Knight’s 
home, “ Gray Gables,” and " The Sign of the Dol- 
phin,” sauntered out down Lighthouse Road, quar- 
reling amiably about the best route for them to 
pursue. Before they had decided anything, they 
met a little girl who had been selling sweet-peas 
among the cottagers. She had just one bunch 
left, of the loveliest rose-pink blossoms. 

“ I think it would be a tactful attention to send 
them back to Nancy,” suggested Jane. 

“ Oh, yes,” agreed Christina, and they paid for 
180 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


the flowers and told the child just how to get to 
the Birdcage. 

Only a few steps further on, they met a barefoot, 
solemn-faced boy, carrying pond-lilies. He, too, 
had sold most of his flowers, and he offered the 
twins what were left for a dime. Christina could 
not resist pond-lilies and the boy, in turn, was 
directed to the Birdcage. 

“ We’re certainly being the Perfect Guests so 
far,” said Jane. “ Please let’s cross the Point first, 
Christina. We can’t hope to find a housekeeping- 
bride dawdling around on the rocks, where we can 
scrape acquaintance with her, in the morning, and 
it’s no time to investigate a tea-shop either. This 
is just a preliminary exploring-trip, and I want to 
see the real, broad ocean.” 

Meanwhile Nancy sat in the Birdcage talking to 
the sweet-pea girl and the pond-lily boy, who 
smiled sheepishly at her and dug their toes rest- 
lessly into the knot-holes in the Birdcage floor. 
But though they were ill at ease, they seemed 
to enjoy their call. 

“ It’s pretty here, ain’t it ? ” said the little girl. 
“ He and I live next door to each other down on 
the Neck.” 

“ Wa’n’t many lilies to-day,” volunteered the 
boy. “ You summer-folks are all crazy about 
lilies.” 

181 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ What do you do in winter, when we’ve 
gone ? ” asked Nancy. 

“ Work in the cannery,” from the girl. 

“ After you’re fourteen, or can make the in- 
spector think you are,” added the boy. 

“ It’s awful lonesome here winters,” put in the 
girl. “ All the fathers are off on the Banks fishing, 
and you never know how they’re doing, or when 
they’ll get back.” 

“ Yes, all our fun comes in summer,” the boy 
contributed. “The Fourth of July is great for 
us, but Thanksgiving and Christmas — they’re 
frosts. I won’t be a fisherman when I grow 
up.” 

“ You can’t be anything else,” said the girl, 
“ ’cept a canner, and that’s worse. It’s a woman’s 
job, mostly, like cooking.” 

“ Don't you have the library and the reading- 
room to go to after work ? ” asked Nancy. 

“ Naw ! ” the boy was scornful. “ That’s all for 
the summer people. There’s a libr’y in the town, 
but the trolley doesn’t run after September, and it’s 
pretty far to walk — four miles. I wisht I lived in 
the town.” 

“ I don’t,” said the girl. “ I’d rather live on the 
Neck, where you c’n have flower-gardens, and 
peddle flowers to the summer-folks. Only I do 
wish we could save up some of our Fourth of July 
182 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


till Christmas. I guess I must be going now. 
Good-bye.” 

“ Good-bye,” echoed the boy, sidling along after 
his little neighbor. 

“ Oh, tell me your names ! ” Nancy called has- 
tily after them. “ Do you know Mrs. Miggs ? ” 
she asked, when introductions had been effected. 

“ Sure we do,” said the boy heartily. 

“ She’s an awful nice lady,” testified the girl. 
“ Her daughter lives on the Neck near us, and her 
granddaughter that’s sick.” 

When they had gone, Nancy chuckled with de- 
light. The twins had done it ! The black magic 
of the Birdcage lookout had infected them — made 
them play right into its hands. For here were two 
more to be helped. 

“ But it’s quite easy to see how,” mused Nancy. 
“ We can leave a Thanksgiving and a Christmas 
for them with Mrs. Miggs. Or we can send it — 
one that will be nice for her grandchild too. 
Goodness ! How busy being on the lookout does 
keep you ! ” 

Nancy lay back among her green cushions, 
thinking. There were ever so many little flower- 
girls, and girls who came for washings, and paper- 
boys, and pond-lily boys wandering about the 
Point. They were all thin, wistful-eyed, eager 
little creatures. Probably most of them lived 

183 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

on the Neck, with its straggling lanes of ugly, 
weather-worn, decrepit little houses, and worked 
hard through the long, lonesome winters while 
their fathers were at sea. It really ought to be a 
big Christmas, enough for all of those children. 
Nancy wondered that the summer colony had 
never thought to do anything for them. There 
was a big fair at the Inn every year, at which the 
cottage people all helped, but Nancy couldn’t re- 
member what it was for — certainly not, however, 
for a children’s Christmas. 

“ Morning, Miss Lee.” Doctor “ Sammy ” Jen- 
nings was peering amusedly down at his absent- 
minded young patient. “ How’s the ankle ? 
Suppose you walk across this summer-house floor 
and see how it goes.” 

It went beautifully ! 

“ That’s the advantage of good care and com- 
plete rest,” said Doctor Jennings complacently. 
“ Now can I trust you to be very careful ” 

“ I’m afraid not,” laughed Nancy. “ I’m gen- 
erally careless every chance I get.” 

“ Mustn’t be,” continued the doctor. “ Walk a 
little bit to-day, and a little bit more to-morrow. 
Yes, go driving, if you like. Tennis? Oh, you’ll 
come to that after a while — not for some time, of 
course. Better get a rubber bandage. Now don’t 
take any risks, climbing on slippery rocks. Go 
184 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


slow. You don’t need me any more. I’ll come 
and take you driving some day soon. Just now 
I’m frightfully busy.” 

Nancy suppressed an overwhelming desire to 
dance, to vault over the Birdcage railing, to walk 
sedately down the path and out to find and aston- 
ish the twins. Fortunately, just as she had de- 
cided that it really couldn’t matter how far you 
walked, if only you were careful at every step how 
you come down on that weak ankle, a Roman- 
striped umbrella caught her eye, bobbing along 
the path to the public rocks. 

“ Oh, you’re there ! ” called the pretty bride, 
catching sight, at the same moment, of Nancy. 
“May I come up? I think I’ll go round this 
time ; it’s a very hot day, out here in the sun. 

“ I didn’t tell you my name before. It’s Marion 
Dale — Mrs. Roger Dale.” The pretty bride, reap- 
pearing after a minute in the summer-house, ap- 
peared to be in a very brisk and businesslike 
mood this morning. “ And your name is Lee, 
isn’t it ? I saw it on your mail box. My hus- 
band’s gone to town again, and this time I feel 
that I simply must accomplish something. So 
I’ve come to you — I don’t know any one else out 
here. You say you can cook, but do you know 
about dampers? And is what you know any- 
thing that you can tell me ? I never in all my 
IBs 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


life heard dampers mentioned,” sighed Mrs. Dale 
forlornly. “ There’s not a word about them in 
any of my ten cook-books. But apparently 
there’s nothing so important in this world, or so 
baffling.” 

Nancy nodded sympathetically. “ Yes, the fire 
is certainly the worst thing about cooking. Don’t 
you know when yours is open or shut? ” 

The bride shook her head. “ I only know that 
it’s always too hot or too cold, or else it’s out alto- 
gether. Shuffling around those little openings, 
and pulling handles up and down, doesn’t seem to 
make any difference, or if it does it’s the wrong 
difference.” 

Nancy considered, frowning. " If I could take 
hold of that stove ! It’s so hard to tell you ! 
And even after you understand the way it works, 
you have to sort of experiment, because each stove 
has its own little crooks. The one at Miss Mar- 
shall’s bungalow was quite different from the 
practice ones in the Fair Oaks Domestic Science 
kitchen. My ankle is better now — but — I — we — 
couldn’t go out this afternoon to see about it, be- 
cause we have another engagement.” 

Mrs. Dale looked at her adviser sadly. “ It’s 
not that I mind working hard, you understand,” 
she said almost fiercely. “ I rather like things to 
be hard. It gives you such a fine feeling when 
1 86 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


you've mastered them. But this — I simply can’t 
do it I I burn the toast, the steak is raw inside 
and scorched outside, and the coffee is muddy. 
My puddings are a sticky mess, and my pies are 
terrible. I don’t a bit blame my husband for feel- 
ing cross 1 He’s gone off to town to-day * on busi- 
ness.’ I’m perfectly sure that he’s really gone to 
get a square meal.” She leaned forward and faced 
Nancy squarely. “ I suppose the thing to do is 
to give up and hire a cook.” 

“ Why do you call it giving up ? ” demanded 
Nancy. 

“ Why ? ” repeated the bride. “ Why ? It will 
show that I’m a failure, won’t it? Our beautiful 
plan will be spoiled. Or anyway I shall be left 
out of it.” Mrs. Dale paused, and added hastily, 
“Never mind about that part of it now. Just 
imagine how I looked forward to doing everything 
for my husband. I never dreamed I couldn’t 
manage. Oh, quick, tell me once more about the 
top row of holes in my stove, and the bottom row. 
I’ve just time to get back before the grocer’s 
wagon is due, and they won’t leave the things, I’m 
afraid, if I’m not there. Yes, yes, I think I see. 
Pipe damper? I haven’t found any. Yes I Yes! 
Oh, thank you. I’ll find them all and do as 
you’ve said, and perhaps I can manage that fire. 
Ten cook-books, but not a word about dampers ! ” 
187 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Off went the Roman parasol, leaving Nancy a 
little more enlightened about the case of the tear- 
ful bride, and much more interested and more 
anxious than before to help her out of her domestic 
difficulties. 

She was eager, of course, to tell the twins all 
that she had learned, but the twins showed no 
intention of coming back. What were they doing, 
Nancy wondered, out so long in the hot sun ? She 
would have wondered still more if she could have 
seen them just then, pacing methodically up and 
down a particularly hot and sunny stretch of 
Surf Road, one on one edge, one on the other, 
following an alert little lady who fluttered about 
so fast that she seemed to be on both sides of the 
road at once. And over the restless little lady’s 
trim black hat dangled a long green veil. Jane 
had nudged Christina at sight of it, and Christina 
had nudged back understandingly. But that was 
when they had first caught sight of the little lady, 
who was then running distractedly down Surf Road 
toward the spot where the twins sat resting and 
looking off at the sea. And as she ran, her flutter- 
ing hands were busily pulling and twisting at the 
fastenings of the green veil, which was drawn 
down tight over her face. 

“ Oh, would you help me get off this bothering 
thing?” she had called, the minute she saw the 
1 88 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


twins. “ I’ve lost something very valuable, and I 
can’t see to find it. Oh, never mind if you tear 
the veil. I don’t care a pin for it.” 

“Was it your horse that galloped past us just 
now?” Jane had asked, while Christina worked 
at the knots. 

“ I suppose so,” admitted the green-veiled lady. 
“ She tipped me over, and before I could think 
what to do she was up and off. I oughtn’t to 
have tried to drive her by myself, — I have horrible 
luck driving horses, — but I was in a hurry and 
Jules, my gardener, was spraying roses and couldn’t 
very well stop, and Lawrence — that’s my boy — 
was off for the morning, before I remembered that 
I must go to town. Lady’s all right. She’ll stop 
in a minute and go to. eating grass. I’ll send 
Jules after her. But what worries me is my 
bundle. I can’t lose that ! ” 

“ We’ll help you hunt, if you’ll tell us where to 
look and what to look for,” volunteered Christina. 

“ Oh, thank you, my dear ! ” cried the lady. 
“ It’s a brown paper parcel, about a foot and a 
half square and perhaps three inches thick, and it 
fell out somewhere between the place back there 
in the road where the gravel is all pawed up — 
that’s where Lady started plunging — and the place 
down there where the bushes are bent. There’s 
where she spilled me out. Everything else went 
189 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


out too, somewhere between those two places. I’ve 
found the whip and the dust-robe and the hitch- 
ing-rein and a letter that my boy Lawrence forgot 
to mail for me yesterday, but I can’t find my 
bundle.” 

“ It must have dropped down in the bushes,” 
Jane decided easily. “ We’ll each take one side 
of the road. Don’t you want to do something 
about your horse before she gets any further 
away ? ” 

“ Oh, no,” said the lady impatiently. “ Lawrence 
and Jules can attend to her later. I must find 
this bundle ! Nothing else matters.” 

There was something fascinating about the 
little lady ; she was so anxious about her lost 
bundle, so nonchalant about her runaway horse, 
so absurdly unsystematic in her bobbing, peering 
progress along the road. Besides, she was the 
lady of mystery, come out of her shrouding green 
veil. She was the queer mother of Nancy’s queer 
Green Knight. 

“ Twins’ luck I ” muttered Jane to Christina. 

The sun beat down pitilessly, and Surf Road, at 
the point Lady had chosen for her manoeuvers, 
was stony and ankle-deep in sand. 

“ Dp you s’pose she ever had a bundle ? ” mur- 
mured Christina to Jane. “ She’s so queer, you 
know, Nancy said.” 


190 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


But in another minute the bundle came to light, 
Christina, in despair, having gone all the way 
down the bank and found it impossibly far off 
under a blackberry bush. 

The green-veiled lady hugged Christina impul- 
sively, and then hugged her bundle. “ 1 should 
never have found it myself I” she said. “Let’s 
sit down and rest.” 

“ Is it all there ? ” asked Jane, craftily intent on 
getting as much information as possible in return 
for her exhausting search after the strange lady’s 
mysterious bundle. 11 The wrapping paper is a 
good deal torn at the corner.” 

The lady examined the tear critically, thus ex- 
posing to Jane’s curious gaze the fact that the 
whole bundle was nothing but a sheaf of loose 
papers. 

Before Jane thought, she sniffed angrily, “ Pa- 
pers ! I thought it was money you’d lost or jew- 
elry.” 

The green-veiled lady hugged her precious bun- 
dle tighter and laughed heartily at Jane’s scorn. 
“ Both those things are here, maybe,” she cried, 
“ though you can’t see them, and something be- 
sides, that’s any amount more precious.” Her 
eager little face grew sober. “ I wish I could tell 
you all about it, my dears, to pay you for your 
long, hot hunt. But I mustn’t. My boy Law- 
191 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


rence will be highly indignant with me as it is. 
He’ll say I haven’t played fair. I didn’t think 
about that before, because I was so anxious to get 
my precious bundle, first, into the post, and then 
back into my possession. Now I must go and re- 
wrap it, and send poor, overworked Jules after 
that miserable horse — unless I can find Lawrence. 
And above all, I mustn’t sit here chatting with 
you two. But I do wonder — is either of you the 
girl who sprained her ankle out on the rocks ? ” 

“ No, but we’re visiting her,” chorused the 
twins. 

“ Really ? How odd ! ” laughed the lady. “ All 
the more reason, Lawrence would say, for me to 
pin down this hot, ridiculous, maddening old veil 
and proceed home to business. Please, please 
don’t think me rude and horrid and ungrateful. 
I suppose you can’t help thinking me perfectly 
ridiculous ! ” And with a shrouded but very 
friendly smile, and a wave of the hand that some- 
how made the tired, hot, puzzled twins feel pleas- 
ant again in spite of themselves, the green-veiled 
lady tripped away up Surf Road. 

“ So she isn’t disfigured, and she isn’t particu- 
larly young and lovely,” Jane summarized their 
discoveries to Nancy later. “ And the boy’s name 
is Lawrence and the gardener’s name is Jules, and 
I don’t believe she’s hiding from any importu- 
192 


TWINS TO THE RESCUE 


nate lover. She’s comical and friendly and the 
kind of person you can’t help liking. I wish I 
could have made her explain what she meant 
about those papers, and her not ‘ playing fair ’ and 
the indignation of Lawrence. Now let’s swap 
with the boys for all they know — make a bargain 
that they’re to tell us everything, and among us 
all something ought to develop. Exonerating the 
Green Knight and family from the unjust suspi- 
cions of their neighbors is the part of Nancy’s job 
that I like best.” 

“ Aren’t you going to help with all the other 
things, Jane?” asked Christina anxiously. 

Jane shrugged. “ There’ll be some easy way of 
settling those, I imagine,” she said. “ That is, if 
you and Nancy don’t go to worrying and getting 
solemncholy over them. You must remember 
that this lookout business is a game. Mrs. Miggs 
started Nancy on it to cheer her up, not to wear 
her out. Everybody has to get used to seeing lots 
of things that he can’t help go wrong in this world, 
so we might as well begin now. Anyhow,” con- 
cluded Jane calmly, “ as long as you can make a 
game of helping people, with all the hop, skip, 
and go of a game in it, that’s as long as you’ll 
really help ’em to amount to anything. Think 
over your long and melancholy pasts and you’ll 
see that I’m right.” 


i93 


CHAPTER XI 


PUTTING A KINK IN THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 

Of course, now that she was allowed to drive 
out, Nancy transferred the tea-party she had 
planned for the twins’ first afternoon from the 
Birdcage to the Dolphin tea-house, which she 
couldn’t wait a day longer than necessary to see. 
The transfer was easy ; she had only to telephone 
Louise Minot at the Inn, and Alexandra and Ce- 
cilia, and send for one of the public carriages to 
take her down to the new meeting-place. For un- 
luckily nobody but Nancy herself had any faith 
in her argument that she could walk a long way 
if she were only careful enough. 

The tea-party had no connection with tea, which 
none of the girls ever drank if she could help it. 
Instead, there were sandwiches, cinnamon toast, 
lemonade, ices, little cakes, and candies, served, of 
course, on a tiffin table on the piazza, with Hope 
Haskins, her eyes dancing at sight of Nancy, to 
“ work ” the trays. 

“ Can’t you come and eat with us after you’ve 
brought our things in?” asked Nancy, catching 
194 


THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 


Hope in a corner. The rest of the party were 
scattered about the rooms, looking at the pretty 
things that were for sale or admiring Miss Willis's 
old brasses. 

“ Oh, no ! " said Hope, in consternation. “ How 
unbusinesslike it would look ! And if Miss Willis 
didn't mind, how cross Miss Little and Miss Green 
would feel. Miss Minot, too, maybe. She looked 
funny when she saw you introducing me to your 
two guests. Oh, Nancy, I’m glad you came to-day, 
because it's my last week here. Fixed expenses 
must go down. And I'm glad you came early, be- 
cause I have errands to do later out on the Point. 
More new dresses to carry to the little sickly girl 
at ‘ Gray Gables.’ Miss Willis does the loveliest 
embroidery on them." 

“ Oh, Nancy, come look at these ducky ginger- 
bread men," called Louise Minot. “ Will you take 
some back for me to Bill and Joe ? " 

Nancy looked at the dolls. “ Yes, of course, 
only I want that one with wings for a sick child 
— Clare Smith at ‘ Gray Gables.’ Hope's going 
out there ; she can take it." 

“ There ! " exulted Jane in Nancy’s ear. “ One 
thing on that list easily disposed of. Why not 
dump the dampers on Hope too ? Send the bride 
a gingerbread doll — or no, some of those sweet 
little bridey-looking cakes with swirly frosting, for 
i95 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


her dessert to-night, and a note to say you’ve 
secured her a damper expert, on the afternoon 
indicated in her order.” 

“ Maybe Hope isn’t one.” 

“ Sure she is ! A girl with the owl for her 
sacred bird, living out in the country, where every- 
body is a wonderful cook — she’s never let dampers 
get by her. There’s another thing off our hands ! ” 

Nancy caught Hope again, as she flew by with 
the first trayful for the party, and Hope was as 
good as Jane’s word for her. “ Of course I can 
show the lady if she’ll let me. That’s one thing 
I certainly do know about — stoves. You can 
safely say that in your note. And Miss Willis 
will be glad to have me go there as long as it 
means a sale of our cakes.” 

“ Hope, will you have to wait a year longer for 
college ? ” demanded Nancy hastily. 

Hope nodded. “ I’m afraid so. But anyhow, 
I’ve had all the fun of thinking I was going this 
fall. Please don’t keep me any longer. It doesn’t 
look well, Nancy Lee. Besides, it’s time for your 
party to sit down.” 

So Nancy gathered her forces around the loaded 
table, and amid much laughter and chattering the 
party proceeded. Louise and Alexandra liked 
both the twins, and Cecilia liked Christina but 
was determined not to find anything fascinating 
196 


THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 


about Jane, just because Nancy had spoken of her 
in such glowing terms. Besides, Cecilia was cross 
this afternoon. Her cousin Peter had pushed her 
off the float when they were all in swimming that 
morning, in an unsolicited effort to “ make her 
more at home in the water/’ and her aunt had 
objected to her going to the Inn for dinner with a 
family who were strangers to the Littles. Cecilia 
felt abused. It annoyed her to watch Hope, with 
that shining, sparkling look in her eyes, hurrying 
back and forth, or hovering adoringly behind 
Nancy’s chair. Cecilia’s and Alexandra’s opinion 
of her she seemed to ignore entirely, enjoying life 
just as thoroughly as ever. After everything had 
been served, Hope brought a paper and pencil to 
Nancy, whispered something in her ear, and said 
“ Thank you I ” with a little ecstatic thrill in her 
voice, when Nancy, having scribbled something 
on the paper, handed it back. Cecilia could stand 
it no longer. 

“ You seem to have a great many secrets with 
our waitress,” she said irritably. 

“Secrets?” Nancy looked at her blankly. “Oh, 
it’s no secret. Hope is going to do an errand for 
me. You know the pretty bride I told you about, 
out by the lighthouse — Mrs. Roger Dale is her 
name. Well, she’s been to see me again, and one 
of her troubles is that she doesn’t know anything 
197 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


about stove-dampers. Hope’s going to show her, 
when she stops there with some little cakes.” 

Cecilia laughed disagreeably. “ If that’s her 
trouble, it’s fortunate I didn’t go to see her. I 
never touched a cooking-stove.” 

“ Great Hat I What a helpless, hapless bride you’l 1 
make ! ” drawled Jane, at which everybody laughed 
but Cecilia, and Nancy hastened to change the 
subject. 

But the only thing she could think of to say 
was, “ Hope’s going to lose her place here, because 
there’s not enough patronage to keep an extra girl 
busy. That means she won’t have money enough 
to start her college course in September.” 

11 Oh, what a shame ! ” cried impulsive little 
Christina. 

“ I'm sorry, I’m sure,” said Cecilia stiffly, 
“ though she certainly doesn’t look as if she 
wanted any one’s pity. She looks just — sicken- 
ingly happy.” 

“ Oh, C. I ” protested Alexandra. 

“ I can’t help — I mean it,” Cecilia insisted. “ It 
always makes me cross to see anybody just throw- 
ing it in your face that they’re so perfectly con- 
tented with life — specially when they haven’t any 
reason to be.” 

“ I should imagine,” put in quiet Louise Minot, 
“ from what Nancy has just told us that she’s do- 
198 


THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 


ing what the boys call ‘ keeping a stiff upper lip.’ 
I’d be doing that most of the time, I think, in her 
place. She works in the Inn dining-room, you 
know, and she looks about as big as a minute carry- 
ing a heavy trayful of dishes. I never spoke to 
her, but I’ve noticed that bright, excited sort of 
expression that she always wears. She never looks 
tired or cross.” 

“ So you’re one of her admirers, too, Louise,” 
scoffed Cecilia. She turned to her cousin. “ We 
seem to be in the minority.” 

“ Why, of course I admire her, Cecilia,” Alex- 
andra began placidly, “ for being plucky and 

wanting to make the most of herself. Only ” 

Alexandra paused meaningly. 

“ I say, Nancy, I’ve had an idea.” Jane had 
been very quiet for her, all the afternoon, her 
thoughts far away on the mysterious green-veiled 
lady. But she had felt Hope’s charm, and now 
she shared Nancy’s irritation at Cecilia. “ Hope 
belongs in the W. W.’s,” Jane went on, after an 
impressive pause. “Hadn’t you thought of it? 
We must initiate her at the very earliest oppor- 
tunity.” 

“ Oh, yes ! ” Nancy took up the idea eagerly. 
“ She would be a splendid member, wouldn’t she ? 
The W. W.’s” — Nancy turned politely to the three 

outsiders — “ is a secret society at Fair Oaks ” 

199 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

“ Started at Fair Oaks School,” interposed Jane, 

“ but it takes in Well, the nearest that I 

can tell you and keep the secrecy pledge, is to say 
that distinguished persons wherever found are ad- 
mitted.” 

“ Aren’t any of the rest of us eligible ? ” asked 
Louise. 

Jane shrugged. “ I can’t see that you are, can 
you, Christina darling? But the boys are work- 
ing that way. We may be able to initiate them 
before the summer is over — that is, if they accom- 
plish what we think they will, instead of what 
they want to.” 

“ Oh, have they told you what they do off by 
themselves all the time ? ” demanded Alexandra. 
“ Peter is a regular clam about it.” 

Jane smilingly pressed her advantage. “They 
told us because we helped them. Nancy helped 
them a lot at first, and Christina and I a little 
this morning. You’d better get into the game.” 
Jane squinted at the Dolphin sign which swung 
from a piazza pillar and changed the subject with 
enlivening abruptness. “ That Dolphin would be 
a lot nicer with more kink in his tail.” 

“ Why don’t you go and tell the lady at the 
desk so?” asked Cecilia, thinking she saw a chance 
to disconcert this maddeningly superior girl, who 
had found out the boys’ carefully guarded secret 
200 



t « 


> y 


THANKS, I WAS JUST GOING 




THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 

in a day, while Cecilia had been working vainly 
for weeks to make them confide in her. “ She 
owns this place, and evidently she’s not making 
a success of it, in spite of your wonderful Hope’s 
help. Her name is Miss Willis.” 

Jane arose smilingly. “Thanks, I was just 
going,” she announced, and marched blandly 
down the piazza and in at the door. Nancy and 
Christina stared, open-eyed, after her, Christina 
alarmed, Nancy triumphant, but both curious and 
longing to follow. Only that might spoil Jane’s 
plan, whatever it was ; if she wanted help, she 
would tell them. 

So they sat still and joined animatedly in the 
talk about a yacht-race for which a Mr. Ellis, a 
guest at the Inn, had offered prizes. Mr. Ellis 
had no boat himself — didn’t even care for sailing. 
He was just a public-spirited gentleman who en- 
joyed Halcyon and wanted to help keep things 
lively. He didn’t dance, but he subscribed gener- 
ously to the Saturday dances, and he had been an 
enthusiastic supporter of the Fourth of July cele- 
bration. The race was to be on a Saturday after- 
noon, with a picnic supper at the boat-house and 
a moonlight “ float ” in the evening — all Mr. El- 
lis’s idea. 

“ He’s a funny little man,” Louise explained to 
the others, who had never heard of the wonderful 
201 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Mr. Ellis. “ He’s young and rather good-looking, 
only he’s too white and soft and do-nothing for 
my taste. He never does do anything, except 
read and smoke and walk a little, arrayed in 
beautiful white flannels. He is pleasant to every- 
body and seems to want to be popular, or he 
wouldn’t bother with things like this race; but he 
is perfectly content with his own society. He 
‘ flocks by himself,’ as the boys say, except occa- 
sionally for politeness’ sake.” 

Cecilia sighed. “ I wish I had a boat to sail — 
or knew how to sail, so I could ship as somebody’s 
helper. Peter’s going to help Dick, and Cornelia 
is going out with her brother. Suppose we girls 
have some kind of athletic contest. Nancy, you 
said we could have a tennis tournament. Why 
don’t we? ” 

Nancy laughed. “ I was waiting till I could 
play, I suppose, but that won’t be yet a while. 
We’ll have one day after to-morrow. Does that 
suit everybody? And Louise, can you invite 
three or four extra girls from the Inn to play ? 
Dick says that we ought to have at least eight for 
a tournament. He knows how to draw the names 
out and arrange for partners.” 

Louise would get the extra players, and the day 
suited every one. 

“ Mother said that if we had a tournament she 


202 


THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 


wanted to offer prizes,” contributed Alexandra. 
“ As we haven’t a court or a boat, we’re getting all 
our good times through our friends, and she wants 
to do something in return.” 

“ If Aunt May gets prizes, they’ll be worth hav- 
ing,” declared Cecilia. “ Don’t ask girls who play 
too well, Louise, because I want a chance at those 
prizes.” 

“ It’s a shame you can’t play, Nancy,” said little 
Christina. “ Why not wait till next week ? ” 

But Nancy said no ; they could do something 
else next week, and it was better to have the 
tennis match when everybody was enthusiastic 
for it. 

Just then Jane stuck her head out the door. 
“ Christina darling,” she drawled, “ come and buy 
a duck of a candle-shade that I’ve discovered in 
here.” 

" I don’t believe I can afford ” began Chris- 

tina doubtfully. 

“ Hurry, please,” ordered Jane, with a comical 
gesture in the direction of the tea-party, and the 
small twin meekly rose to the occasion. 

“ Isn’t Jane Learned odd and amusing ?” said 
Louise, when Christina had gone. “ Do you sup- 
pose she really said that to Miss Willis about the 
Dolphin’s tail ? ” 

“ I don’t know,” laughed Nancy, “ and it’s no 
203 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


use asking until she’s ready to tell us. Whatever 
it is, it’s sure to be something comical.” 

It was fully ten minutes before the twins reap- 
peared, Christina carrying the candle-shade done 
up in a neat bundle. 

“ Well, did you tell her ? ” asked Cecilia indif- 
ferently. 

“ Sure I told her,” returned Jane, “ and we 
agreed perfectly. Beginning about to-morrow 
there’ll be a kink in his tail.” Jane lopped down 
in a big wicker-chair and gave a deep sigh of sat- 
isfaction. “ Did you notice her ? ” she asked the 
party. “ Miss Willis, I mean. Great Hat, but 
she can draw ! Too bad she’s the kind of artist 
that hasn’t any artistic sense left over for clothes, 
and that has to be reminded what an improve- 
ment it will be to put a curl in her Dolphin’s tail. 
In other words,” said Jane, “she’s a frump, and 
she hasn’t a sense of humor, but when you put it 
up to her, she certainly can draw ! Wait till you 
see ! ” 

“ What did you do, Jane ? ” asked Nancy. 
“ You really ought to tell us, you know, after 
we’ve waited around for you so long.” 

Jane only shrugged again. “ You’d have stayed 
anyhow. Unfortunately there’s no rush for tables, 
to suggest the necessity of breaking up this per- 
fectly good party. Besides, I have told you. I sug- 
204 


THE DOLPHIN’S TAIL 


gested the advantage of putting a kink in the 
Dolphin’s tail, and Miss Willis agreed, and it’s to 
be done. If you want to see it, when done,” con- 
cluded Jane coldly, “ I suppose you’ll have to 
come around this way to-morrow, or the day after, 
or both.” Thereafter Jane resolutely refused to 
say anything more, and Cecilia suggested that they 
really ought to play a little tennis before dinner. 
Louise could use Nancy’s shoes and racquet, and 
they could take turns staying out, changing every 
two or three games. 

“ There’s Mr. Ellis now,” said Louise, as they 
stood by the roadside, having helped Nancy into 
her carriage. 

11 He is good-looking ! ” 

“ Any man is, in good-looking flannels.” 

“ I don’t like his face ; his mouth looks mean, 
somehow.” 

“ Why I ” Nancy broke into the chorus of com- 
ment, “ I think he’s the one who came in to see 
about Regent’s barking, the night of the Parkes’ 
burglary and the ‘ Gray Gables ’ ghost. Oh, he 
certainly is the one ! At first Dick tried to make 
me think I’d seen the burglar, but he rather 
changed his mind later. Now he’ll be thoroughly 
convinced.” 

“ Did Mr. Parke’s detectives ever find out any- 
thing about that burglary ? ” asked Alexandra. 

205 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ No,” Louise reported, “ they said there was 
nothing to work on, and it’s all been dropped.” 

“ Good-bye ! I’ll have the things ready for you, 
Louise.” Nancy signaled her driver to start. She 
was secretly anxious for the tennis practice to be 
over. Then she and Christina could get Jane to 
themselves, and perhaps Jane would tell them 
what she had really said to Miss Willis. 

But before the chance for confidences arrived 
the twins had been beaten by Cecilia and Louise, 
then by Cecilia and Alexandra, and Cecilia had 
beaten both twins in singles — three-game sets to 
be sure, but it did suggest, as Christina said sadly, 
that Fair Oaks was badly outclassed. 

“ And Jane boasted awfully about my playing, 
on the way back here from the Dolphin,” sighed 
the small twin mournfully. 

“ Well, after I’d made one grand-stand play — as 
I hope,” said Jane, “ I thought you’d hold up our 
athletic record. But I never saw you play worse.” 

“ Maybe it’s the strange court,” suggested Nancy 
hopefully. “ Dick will give you both some good 
hard practice to-morrow. Now, Jane ! ” 

Jane laughed. “ Oh, it’s nothing much to boast 
about,” she said shamefacedly. “ That Cecilia 
person made me feel mad right straight through, 
and of course I felt sorry for Hope. And when 1 
thought how I’d fussed and planned and toiled 
206 


THE DOLPHIN'S TAIL 

over silly old scrapes at one old school after an- 
other, and how I’d hate to work a whole extra winter 
up among the Vermont snow-drifts, waiting for an 
education to come my way, and how that Cecilia 
person never has to wait for what she wants, and 
how we terrible twins are getting old enough to 
take hold of something useful — with all that 
mixed up in my head,” summarized Jane, “ why, 
of course I got up and walked off, when the Cecilia 
person gave me the cue, just bound to do some- 
thing sensible and helpful for a change. But I 
hadn’t an idea what I’d do or say when I got in 
there. I hadn’t even had a thought when I went 
back to get Christina. But while she was buying 
something, I had a chance to talk carelessly and 
think hard. Then I tucked her off in a corner 
out of hearing, and just let the sight of her back 
hair inspire me to live up to the reputation of the 
terrible twins. And now,” Jane’s manner was 
suddenly tragic, “ we can’t practice tennis to- 
morrow morning, girls, unless we get up before 
breakfast. Because I’ve solemnly promised that 
we’ll all three come and work a jig-saw, or a 
hammer and nails, or a paint-brush according to 
circumstances, the whole morning long, over in 
the Dolphin tea-shop. It’s a big job for one 
morning anyhow, and we can’t possibly take any 
time off. Miss Willis’s nephew is coming for us 
207 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

at nine o’clock. He doesn’t know it yet, but he 
is.” 

“ Jane, what on earth do you mean ? ” demanded 
Nancy. 

“ Oh, Jane, what mess have you got us into 
now? ” wailed little Christina. 

“ Oh, only helping to make Dolphin garden- 
sticks,” announced Jane, “ and fairy and mermaid 
and parrot and bird-in-general garden-sticks. Re- 
member the fairy on a garden-stick that mother 
paid three round dollars for in New York, Chris- 
tina darling ? Well, this Miss Willis can draw one 
that has it beaten cold.” She turned to Nancy. 
“ Green stick a yard or so long, topped by quaint 
and amusing painted wooden figure : that’s the 
latest thing in garden decoration, to tie up your 
loppy plants to.” 

“ And is that the curl in the Dolphin’s tail ? ” 
demanded Nancy. 

“Why, it’s just one more thing to sell,” remon- 
strated Christina. “ The candle-shades are lovely, 
but they didn’t help much. How are people to 
know about it, Jane? You said to-morrow ” 

“ Oh, the ones to sell are just a sort of side- 
issue.” Jane dismissed objections brusquely. “ The 
main point is a row of curly-tailed dolphins — two 
rows of ’em — marching up each side of the front 
walk, behind the little box trees, and more rows 
208 


THE DOLPHIN'S TAIL 


bristling along the piazza railings. Do you think 
people can resist that ? Won’t they be crazy to 
walk up between those rows of prancing dolphins ? 
— prancing on green sticks. And then of course 
they’ll go in. And gardening is such a fad at 
present. Seems as if anybody would want either 
a dolphin or a mermaid for a sea-garden, or else a 
fairy or a bird for an inland garden, to tie their 
roses to, and their larkspur and their foxgloves 
and their — I don’t know many plant names,” said 
Jane, “ but I’d want some sticks. I made mother 
promise me her three dollar garden-fairy to have 
in our room this winter. The Dolphin brand is 
guaranteed waterproof and lasting,” added Jane 
inconsequently, “ but to-morrow we’ll have to put 
a temporary coat of water-colors on the front- 
walk brigade, because oils won’t dry quickly 
enough.” 

“ Jane, you make me dizzy, you go so fast,” 
declared Nancy. 

“ Your own fault,” Jane accused her, “ for in- 
troducing me to this lookout game and to star-eyed 
Hope — isn’t that a poetical phrase? — and the 
annoying Cecilia. To continue with the arrange- 
ments : Miss Willis’s nephew — the same one who 
has a jig-saw to lend — drives a carriage to take 
people around from the trolley terminus. To- 
morrow he’s going to stick a sign on his bus : ‘ To 
209 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Dolphin Tea-Hoase, five cents.’ He doesn’t know 
it yet, but he is. If he gets a lot of extra business, 
the other drivers will offer to do likewise.” 

“ It will all be splendid if it works,” sighed 
Nancy. “And of course it means that Hope 
stays.” 

“ Hope stays,” repeated Jane, “ until it’s plain 
to be seen whether or not the drooping Dolphin 
can be propped up by flower-sticks and reinvigor- 
ated by curling his tail.” 


210 


CHAPTER XII 


A VISIT TO THE CAPTAINS’ WATCH-TOWER 

The boys were growing tired of their detective- 
work. You couldn’t get anywhere with a subject 
whose habits, though strange, were as monoto- 
nously regular as the Green Knight’s. He seemed 
fascinated by the swamp around Fresh Pond. 
The paper that apparently guided his operations 
there was tattered on the edges and split from 
much folding and unfolding, though nobody could 
have handled a bit of rare old lace any more 
carefully than the Knight did that precious docu- 
ment. Morning after morning he spread it out 
on the same flat stone, and returned to it to 
stare and whistle between his mysterious ex- 
periments with rope and yard-stick. As the days 
passed he experimented less and stared more, sit- 
ting for hours hunched up on a small stone beside 
the mystic paper, and always he whistled and 
whistled. 

Afternoons he behaved more like a normal 
human being. Alone on Lady’s back, or with his 
mother in the cart beside him, he rode or drove 
21 1 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


along the winding Point roads, off toward Halcyon 
Harbor, a resort four miles away up the coast, and 
just before dinner-time into the town for the city 
papers. Somebody in that queer household could 
not get on without the day’s news. 

The Green Knight was a good horseman. Lady 
curveted and pranced and shied, but she never 
got away from the boy’s control. On days when 
there was no wind for sailing, the three amateur 
detectives envied the Knight his horse, and wished 
he was more sociable. Then they could swap sails 
for horseback rides, or all crowd into the cart and 
drive to town in pursuit of adventure, when time 
hung heavy. 

What the Green Knight did at night — especially 
late at night — was, as the three detectives well 
realized, the crux of their puzzle. Unfortunately 
their families had views about boys being at home 
in bed during the hours most favored by both 
ghosts and burglars. The three could generally 
escape after dinner and hurry back to the road 
that skirted Fresh Pond, near which, about one 
evening in three, the Green Knight could be found 
digging his great square pits, or else filling in those 
that he had dug a few nights before. Why he 
never dug except at night, though he left the holes 
as clear evidence against himself, if anybody had 
wanted it, was a matter that the detectives dis- 
212 


THE CAPTAINS ’ WATCH-TOWER 


cussed endlessly. He worked by the faint twinkle 
of the little electric “ bug-light ” that he had of- 
fered to Nancy, so that from the road he was hardly 
more noticeable than a glowworm. But even with 
the drawback of darkness, the Green Knight was 
an expert at excavating. He dug, dug, dug, whis- 
tled and whistled. The earth piled up in great 
spadefuls beside the hole he made, and he never 
seemed to have any doubt about the exact location 
he wanted for this, nor any trouble in keeping it 
square. These things puzzled the detectives, until 
Little Peter, walking boldly down one evening to 
question the Knight, as Nancy had suggested, 
kicked his feet against a row of short stakes that 
bounded the square. That was all the information 
that Little Peter got for his trouble. 

“ What am I digging for ? ” repeated the Knight 
in answer to Little Peter's query. “ Why, fish- 
worms. One name for ’em is night-crawlers, so I 
thought maybe they’d crawl up in the dark and 
be easier to get.” 

“ Where’s your can ? ” asked Little Peter suspi- 
ciously. 

“ My what? ” 

“ Your can — don't you keep them in a tin can ? ” 
explained Little Peter. 

“ No,” said the other. “ I keep ’em in a paper.” 

“ Where’s your paper ? ” 

213 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ In my pocket.” 

“ I call that messy.” 

“ Oh, no ! ” said the Green Knight blandly. 
“ Not at all messy, because I’ve got no worms 
yet.” 

“ What do you use fish-worms for around here ? ” 
demanded Little Peter, in a final attempt to trap 
the excavator. 

“ Well,” said the Knight placidly, “ if I got any, 
I thought I’d go fishing — river-fishing, I mean. 
Of course I know you can’t use worms for deep-sea 
fishing. But as I haven’t got any, I shan’t go.” 

" How many hours have you put in trying to get 
one worm ? ” sniffed Peter. 

The Green Knight stuck his face out into the 
light of his tiny lantern and grinned wickedly. 
“ I’m awfully persistent,” he explained. “ Besides, 
I’ve got lots of hours to waste this summer.” He 
consulted his watch. “ Nine o’clock — closing 
time.” He threw his spade over his shoulder, 
picked up the lantern, and dashed up the bank 
through the bushes at a pace that left Peter, who 
didn’t know every foot of the ground with the cer- 
tainty of his companion, far in the rear. 

After that, Little Peter, who was decidedly not 
persistent, lost interest. “ The fellow’s crazy,” was 
Peter’s opinion. “ Anyhow, he’s too good for us. 
Old man Smith had better put a big detective like 
214 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 


Mr. Burns on his trail. I’m convinced that he’s 
responsible for anything queer that happens around 
here ” 

“ Don’t talk till you’ve got evidence,” said 
Johnny Andrews severely. Johnny intended to be 
either a great detective or a famous criminal lawyer 
when he was older, and insisted upon observing 
the rules of the game. “ So far,” he reminded the 
others, “ we haven’t any evidence at all.” 

“ That’s so,” agreed Dick. “ We’re wasting our 
time. Instead of being down watching Fresh 
Pond and that crazy-head 1 digging for fish- 
worms,’ we belong up on Judge Smith’s place, on 
the chance that the ghost-racket happens again.” 

“ Sure, we belong there,” said Johnny. “ Let’s 
interview the Judge and tell him so. Just be- 
cause he thinks that ’fraid-cat little girl will 
worry if she sees us around, is no reason for him 
to keep us out.” 

“ He’s probably forgotten all about us and the 
ghost too,” scoffed Little Peter. “ The ghost prob- 
ably wasn’t anything but that ’fraid-cat kid’s bad 
dreams. Nobody would have thought of it again, 
if it hadn’t happened on the night of the Parkes’ 
burglary.” 

“ Then there was Regent’s cutting up,” put in 
Dick, “ which showed that we had suspicious 
characters around our place. But see here, this 
215 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


boy always stops at nine. His rushing off from 
you, Peter, wasn’t any trick he put up on you. 
He always cuts for home at exactly nine o’clock, 
and before ten their house is as dark as Egypt.” 

“ No evidence,” grumbled businesslike Johnny 
again. “ We don’t know that he stays in the dark 
house — only that he goes in. But probably Peter’s 
right. Probably there won’t be any more ghost. 
And probably this smart youth named Lawrence 
we-don’t-know-what will fool us all summer. So 
let’s get busy helping Dick here to sail his boat to 
the limit in the big race. Mother saw the cups 
down at the Inn yesterday, and she said they’re 
peaches. A motor-boat is nice for ladylike pic- 
nics, but I wish I had the real thing, like Dick.” 

And then, that very afternoon, there was a dead 
calm on the bay and hardly a puff of wind on the 
open sea, and, as there was nothing to be done 
about sailing and the late afternoon was pleasanter 
for tennis, the boys decided to go down to the 
watch-tower and talk to the old captains. 

Mrs. Miggs had told Nancy about the watch- 
tower. It was down at the Neck, out on the end 
of the longest wharf: a squatty little tower, but 
high enough to command a long stretch of sea. 

“ The old captains sit there,” Mrs. Miggs ex- 
plained, “ after they’re too old to sail any longer. 
Cap’n Silas Baker, he’s lame, ’n’ Cap’n John Mace, 
216 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 


he’s lamer, so’s he can jest drag up the tower steps. 
Cap’n Cyrus Mixter, lie’s blind, the dear old man. 
They’re the four regulars, always on hand. Cap- 
tain Porter’s younger, but he’s the deafest of the 
lot. He fishes a little in summer, but most of the 
time he sets and smokes with the rest up in the 
tower. Captain Blades comes when his wife 
don’t need him, and is willing. They set in a 
row with their chairs teetered back aginst the 
wall and smoke and talk. They love to have 
strangers come in on ’em. Maybe you girls would 
find it a little smoky, but your brothers would ad- 
mire to hear the stories they’ve got to tell, and 
they’d admire to tell ’em.” 

This sounded entertaining. Johnny wanted to 
know if the “ Banks ” where the fishermen went 
were made of fog or something more solid, and just 
how one caught lobsters. Dick looked forward to 
wild tales of storm and shipwreck, with dramatic 
rescues to follow. Peter hoped that some of the 
captains had been with the sponge fleets, and could 
give him points on professional diving. As they 
walked down to the Neck, discussing all these in- 
teresting possibilities, their pace grew faster and 
faster, until they almost ran down the long wharf 
and up the tower stairs. But though they took 
no pains to be quiet as they reached the door of 
the dusky loft, where the old captains sat, watch- 
217 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


ing the sea through the great doors that fronted 
the water and were always open in fair weather, 
not a captain noticed the visitors. They were not 
sitting in a row against the wall ; only one was 
smoking ; they were not pining for listeners, or 
for a chance of entertaining gossip, as Mrs. Miggs 
had represented — or rather they were already pro- 
vided with entertainment, apparently of the most 
thrilling nature. In the corner, on a pile of nets, 
where its owner had tossed it, lay a green cap 
with a tiny green feather tucked in its band. 
Over by the wide-flung doors sat the Green 
Knight in the center of an excited circle of alert 
old men. On the boy’s knees was spread the tat- 
tered paper that the three intruders had seen so 
many times laid out on the flat rock. The boy 
was reading from it, while the eager old men 
stared at the writing — all but one, blind old Cap- 
tain Mixter, who gazed sightlessly in the direction 
of the boy’s voice. 

“ ‘ East of ye bay there is a pond,’ ” read the boy, 
“ ‘ and on ye east side of ye pond there is an oak 
tree ten yards from ye waterside.’ ” The boy 
paused. “ It would be dead by now, of course, 
but seems to me I’ve tried every stump ” 

The blind captain lifted his thin hand. “ It’s 
not Fresh Pond that’s meant, my boy. It’s the 
old horse-pond up on the Miggs farm — that’s 
218 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 


Judge Smith’s place now, and all the Point land 
beyond him belonged to it.” 

“What say? Speak up, Cyrus,” demanded 
“ deef” Captain Porter. 

“ I say Fresh Pond wa’n’t there in the old days,” 
repeated Captain Mixter loudly. “ You all know 
that. Down in the holler behind the big house, 
right where the man that built ‘ Gray Gables,’ as 
they call it, put his biggest barn, — there’s the 
place that’s meant. There’s wood and rocks there 
— ’bout all that feller that fixed it up saw fit to 
leave. He was great for smoothing off and cut- 
ting down. He dreened his horse-pond down into 
the swamp that’s Fresh Pond now. The others 
dreened down there too — put all the waste water 
together and planted lilies. It makes the Point 
more sightly, I must say, but it’s changed all the 
old landmarks.” The blind man sighed. 11 You 
look for your oak stump and your rock up behind 
that barn.” 

“ I see,” said the boy slowly. “ I thought per- 
haps that was it from something that’s written in 
here in my grandfather’s writing. I tried up there 
one morning before breakfast, but I sort of 
hated ” 

“ How are you, mates?” broke in “ deef” Cap- 
tain Porter, who, happening to look up, had dis- 
covered the three visitors hesitating in the door. 

219 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ Come and join us, if you so please/’ he added 
sociably. 

The Green Knight looked up, and quick as a 
flash but with deft gentleness he folded the 
precious paper and tucked it away in a big black 
wallet. 

“ I must be off,” he said, rising and nodding a 
friendly nod around the circle of captains and then 
at the boys. “ I’ll be in again soon, and here’s 
some of that stick-candy you fellows said you 
liked.” He pulled a square package out of his 
pocket and laid it in Captain Mixter’s hand. 

The old captains watched him go wistfully. 

“ He’s one of us,” “deef” Captain Porter told 
the new arrivals. “ His granddad was a Halcyon 
man.” 

“ And what he don’t know about the old days!” 
testified Captain Baker admiringly. “ He knows 
who owned every foot of land round here, from 
the Revolutionary days down. He knows the 
names and stories of all our old sailing-vessels. 
He’s up on town history. He could draw a map 
of the Miggs farm and the Baker farm and half a 
dozen next beyond ’em. He’s a great boy.” 

“ What’s he looking for down by Fresh Pond ? ” 
demanded Johnny daringly. 

“That’s his affair,” snapped Captain Mixter. 

“ He’s a great chum of ourn,” Captain Baker 
220 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 


apologized for the other’s curtness. “ Drops in 
’most every day. Tells us his private business, 
knowing it’s safe with us.” 

“ Oh, that’s all right,” said Johnny. “ What’s 
his name ? ” 

Captain Baker considered. “ Dunno’s I ever 
heard him say.” He raised his voice for Captain 
Porter’s benefit. “ Any of you recollect hearing 
his name? ” 

Nobody did. 

Captain Mixter began to reminisce. “ I recol- 
lect that old horse-pond jest as well. Swam across 
it first year I learned. There was one deep place, 
over my head, and the fresh water didn’t hold you 
up like the bay. Sam Miggs — he was jest my size 
— he stood on the bank and watched me come. I 
remember how scared he looked. It wa’n’t over 
my head for mor’n two yards, I s’pose. The big 
barn’s right over that hole.” 

Silent little Captain Blades turned solemnly to 
the newcomers. “ Any of you belong in Halcyon ? ” 

“ We’ve been coming here three summers,” vol- 
unteered Dick. 

“ Umph, summer folks!” commented Captain 
Blades. “ Any of you sailed the seas to furrin 
parts ? ” 

“ I’m going to Japan the first chance I get,” 
volunteered Little Peter. 

22 1 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ That boy’s been round the world more than 
once,” asserted Captain Mixter proudly. “ He’s 
touched at more furrin ports than any of us. 
He’s lived in furrin ports.” 

“ We thought perhaps you’d spin us some yarns,” 
suggested Dick, half-heartedly, because he was more 
interested now in comparing views on the Green 
Knight’s behavior with Peter and Johnny than in 
the most thrilling sea-tales. 

But Captain Mixter settled the matter. “ Not 
to-day, mates,” he objected, “ not to-day. We’ve 
got business to tend to — ’bout some old landmarks. 
You wouldn’t be interested. Any other day, when 
we’re not so busy, we’d admire to talk to you.” 

Down on the sunny road the three friends 
stopped to size up the situation. 

“ Well, he’s done us again,” said Peter. “ Seems 
he can be chummy enough when he wants to, but 
he picks his company.” 

“ What do you gather he’s after ? ” queried 
Dick. 

“ I’ve got it ! ” cried Peter triumphantly, after a 
pause. “ The writing-machine lady with the 
green veil is getting up a history of Halcyon, — 
tidy little souvenirs to sell to the summer colony. 
Green Cap is hunting material for it — old maps 
and things.” 

“ You don’t make maps with a spade,” objected 
222 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 


Johnny. “ You don’t dig up materials for a his- 
tory book out of the ground.” 

“ Oh, well,” conceded Peter irritably, " of course 
that’s something else he’s at. Can’t a fellow 
be at two things at once ? Maybe it’s fish-worms, 

as he said, and maybe it’s Well, I’m going to 

the library to read up on the history of that Miggs 
farm,” announced Peter suddenly. “ You two can 
go and beat the girls at tennis, if you feel like it. 
I’m going to run this mystery down.” 

But Peter, delving till dinner-time in the stuffy 
little reading-room on the Neck, unearthed noth- 
ing at all notable about an oak, a rock, or a horse- 
pond on the Miggs farm, now portioned off be- 
tween “ Gray Gables ” and a dozen other summer 
residences. And Peter might have saved himself 
the hot and dusty search through village archives. 
For next morning as the three boys, accom- 
panied by Alexandra, Cecilia and the Learned 
twins, were hurrying down to the bathing-beach, 
Judge Smith hailed them from his big limousine. 

“ Haven’t you detectives any report to make ? ” 
he demanded, twinkling at the boys genially, as 
they stood in an embarrassed row in front of him. 
“ I thought you couldn’t have run the creature 
down, because we had another visitation last night. 
I got back from the West at midnight, and before 
four I was waked by the most unearthly yelling I 
223 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


ever want to hear. I’m using Clare’s rooms now. 
They’re the only ones the haunt cares for, it seems, 
so there may have been plenty of other visitations 
while I was away. You fellows couldn’t arrange 
with your families to come up and sleep for a while ? 
Not that I am much bothered by having a haunted 
house on my hands,” chuckled Judge Smith, “ but 
I sort of like the idea of a ghost hunt and so does 
Clare, now that she’s got over her scare a little. 
Besides,” — he laughed again, — “ I’ve got a hunt 
for buried treasure going on back of my barn, and 
a Sedan chair stored in my garage, so three young 
detectives in charge of a ghost-hunt on the third 
story seems to complete the picture.” 

“ I say,” demanded Johnny Andrews, after the 
three had exchanged doubtful glances, “ are you 
guying us, Judge Smith ? ” 

“ Guying you ? ” repeated Judge Smith irascibly. 
" Certainly not, young man. What gives you that 
impression ? ” 

“ Well,” began Johnny, “ we’re in earnest, you 
see, Judge. We’re trying to find the real person 
who’s annoying you, and who maybe robbed Mr. 
Parke also. We don’t believe in ghosts, and of 
course we know you don’t. And a hunt for buried 
treasure sounds like some other kind of a 
fake ” 

“ Fake ! ” broke in Judge Smith, “ fake ! Well, 
224 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 

I guess not. The young man who’s doing the 
hunting has a permit that descended to him from 
his grandfather to search my premises. The grand- 
father got it from the son of the ancient owner of 
my place, and it’s dated 1831. I haven’t a word 
to say in the matter. Besides, I like it. Do you 
mean to say ” — he frowned at the three boys — 
“ do you mean to say that you’re not interested in 
a genuine hunt for buried treasure ? Why, when 
I was the age of you fellows I’d have been sprint- 
ing down the road half-way back to my place by 
now, to watch it.” 

“ It’s that boy with the green cap, of course,” 
said Peter. 

“ Um — you know him, do you?” asked Judge 
Smith. 

“ By sight,” explained Peter. “ He’s been 
measuring and digging down by Fresh Pond — we 
didn’t know why. Evidently he didn’t find any- 
thing there, but he wouldn’t tell us what he was 
doing.” 

“Is that so?” said Judge Smith. “That’s 
funny. But then he had to tell me, naturally. I 
noticed he didn’t seem very sociable — shy, maybe. 
Well now, the point is this : can you boys be on 
hand, two at a time, say, to try to get a line on 
this — night-prowler, or, to be quite accurate, night- 
howler. We’ll discontinue using the misleading 
225 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


term that I applied before, though I must say the 
noise I heard was the most unearthly, inhuman 
shrieking I can imagine. I don’t blame Clare at 
all for getting hysterical over it. Can you begin 
to-night? ” 

The detectives solemnly agreed to have two of 
the firm on hand that very evening, prepared to 
sleep in the noise-haunted chamber, and then 
started off after the girls. 

“ Hi ! hi ! ” called Judge Smith before they had 
gone far. “ There’s another thing I want to consult 
you boys about, though I will admit ” — he turned 
to the sceptical Johnny — “ this thing does sound a 
good deal like a joke. I’m out looking for a girl 
with big brown eyes — a little girl, who does errands 
for somebody or other around here. Nobody 
knows what errand brought her to my house, but 
my spoilt grandchild Clare wants her back. So 
I’m out with a list of all the possible places that 
might have sent her ” 

“ Has she big bright brown eyes ? ” demanded 
Peter. “ Quite remarkable eyes, and lots of en- 
thusiasm and go in her manner? ” 

“ Sounds like it,” snapped Judge Smith. “ Who 
is your girl ? ” 

“That’s Hope Haskins. She works at the Inn, 
and she’s a friend of his sister’s ” — Peter indicated 
Dick with a gesture. 


226 


THE CAPTAINS' WATCH-TOWER 


“ Well ! ” The old man was running down the 
long list of establishments that might have sent a 
girl out on an errand to “ Gray Gables.” “ The 
Inn’s not here. I’ll try it first, though — -just like 
a pack of servants to remember all but the right 
place. Good-bye, boys. To the Inn, Thomas.” 

“ Well, of all queer old parties ! ” said Dick, 
watching the big car out of sight. “The Green 
Knight hasn’t much on him for queerness ! Start- 
ing out to find a girl with nice brown eyes ” 

“ And finding her first clip,” put in Peter. 
“ That’s his style. Crazy over this Green Knight’s 

hunt for buried treasure ” 

“ Say, that’s what I thought of yesterday,” 
broke in Peter again, “ after we’d been to see the 
captains. I thought buried treasure would about 
fit the case. Only it sounded too wild, so I kept 
still.” 

“ Nothing’s too wild to be true nowadays,” said 
Johnny. “ Truth is stranger than fiction. Has 
anybody any new theories about this night-howler? 
And who’s going to sleep up there on the first 
shift?” 


22 7 


CHAPTER XIII 


A COSTLY VICTORY 

“ Isn’t it hot? ” 

“ The hotter the better for tennis.” 

“ If you could see yourself, Alice Knapp, you’d 
realize the disadvantages of heat.” 

“ Well, I’d rather have a good time and look 
like a lobster than sit around in a fluffy white 
dress and groan about how hot I am,” said Jane 
Learned, dropping down on the grass beside the 
Lees’ tennis-court. 

It was the day of the much-heralded tennis 
tournament. Jane had just been badly beaten by 
Alice Knapp, a tow-headed girl from the Inn. 
Louise Minot, the other two Inn girls, and Alexan- 
dra had been eliminated in the first round. The 
next match was between Cecilia Green and Chris- 
tina Learned, and the winner would play Alice 
Knapp in the finals. To be sure, there was also 
Nancy Lee, who had let her name go into the 
drawing as a mere formality. There were eight 
players without Nancy, and, as her name came 
out of Peter Little’s hat last, she would not have 
228 


A COSTLT VIC T O RT 


to play, or default, until the very last round, when 
she would meet the winner of all the other 
matches. This Dick and Peter, who had both 
managed tournaments at school, declared to be 
the professional method of handling the situation. 

Dick, Peter, and Johnny Andrews were general 
managers of the tournament. All the young 
people on the Point and at the Inn had been in- 
vited to look on, so there was a noisy and enthusi- 
astic “ gallery,” which clapped all the good shots 
impartially and inspired the players to do their 
best. 

“ I don’t mean to fuss about the heat,” said the 
girl who had commented on Alice Knapp’s wilted 
appearance, “ but I do hate the sun in my face. 
I’m going to move.” 

“ You’ll certainly melt if you sit on the other 
side of the court,” advised somebody, “ with the 
sun on your back.” 

“ Well, I’ll try melting then, if necessary,” said 
the girl, “ for I’m certainly tired of squinting. 
But how about the end of the court? It seems 
quite shady there.” 

“ Oh, lemonade ! ” cried Alexandra Little, spy- 
ing Rosa coming down the path with a great bowl, 
followed by Josephine, strutting importantly along 
with a tray of glasses. 

So it happened that when Cecilia and Christina 
229 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


began to play, a few of the spectators still sat fac- 
ing the sun on the side-line, and all the others 
who were not off under a big tree drinking lemon- 
ade were gathered in a spot of shade at Christina’s 
end of the court. 

“ Love-fifteen I ” 

“ Love-thirty ! ” 

“ Fifteen-thirty ! ” 

41 Fifteen-forty ! ” 

“ Game ! ” 

Cecilia’s game. Cecilia was serving splendidly ; 
Christina could not get one of her swift, low balls. 
But Christina won on her serve. Games were 
then one-all. After that Christina lost steadily. 
Games were one-two, one-three, one-four, two-four, 
the score always in Cecilia’s favor. 

“ I say, Nancy, you’ll have to go into the finals 
and do up C. Green.” Little Peter, who had been 
“ hustling ” lemonade for those who still kept 
their places by the tennis-court, strolled up to 
Nancy’s chair. 

“ Oh, I can’t play,” Nancy assured him. “ I 
might just as well have defaulted in the first 
place. It would be awfully careless for me to race 
around on a weak ankle.” 

“ 1 thought you said it wasn’t weak any more.” 
“ Well, it isn’t, really,” laughed Nancy, “ but I 
don’t suppose it can be perfectly strong yet. Be- 
230 


A COS T L V VIC TORT 


sides, Peter, I can’t believe it would be fair for me 
to step in at the end, after the winner of all the 
other matches is tired, and try to beat her.” 

“ It’s perfectly fair,” insisted Peter. “ Luck was 
with you, that’s all, in the drawing. There were 
nine entries, including you. You were drawn out 
last — number nine. The first eight pair, then the 
four winners pair, and so on, and you draw a blank 
each time. 1 Drawing a bye ’ is the technical ex- 
pression for it. You have a perfect right to play.” 

“Thirty-all!” called Cecilia, .who was serving. 
“ Play ! ” 

“Oh, isn’t it ” began Christina, and dived 

after the flying ball. It was her point. 

“ And my game too, I think, Cecilia,” she ex- 
plained, coming up to the net. “ The score before 
that was forty-fifteen in my favor. That makes 
the games three to four.” 

“ Oh, no ! ” objected Cecilia eagerly. “ It was 
thirty-all before, just as I said. I made doubles 
once, and you got one little low ball just over the 
net.” 

“ And one in the back of the court.” 

“ Oh, that one was out,” said Cecilia decisively. 
“I may not have called it so you heard, but it was 
at least a foot out.” 

“ It was ! ” Christina stepped back into her 
place, a worried look on her small face. The 
231 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


game that she had thought safely hers must be 
won all over again. 

“ Thirty-forty ! Play ! ” 

Christina ran too far forward, and the ball 
dropped into the net on her side. 

“ Deuce. Play ! ” 

Christina “ lobbed ” her return high in the air, 
and everybody waited breathlessly for it to come 
down. 

“ Out I ” called Cecilia, promptly, as it struck. 

“ The dust flew, C. ! It must have been on the 
line,” called Peter. 

“ There’s a smutch of white outside the line just 
here,” retorted Cecilia easily. “ That ball was 
out : I was right beside it, and I saw .it distinctly. 
You can’t possibly see my lines from that end of 
the court.” 

“ I say, Nancy,” — Peter came back to Nancy’s 
side, — “ you ought to have an umpire for this 
match. That ball was in. C. juggles scores when 
it suits her. That’s why I don’t want her to win 
out.” 

Nancy blushed and looked anxiously to see if 
any one had overheard Peter’s confidence. “ Oh, 
Peter, I can’t believe that she meant to be unfair. 
And how can I suggest having an umpire now, 
when we haven’t had one all the time before? It 
would be insulting to Cecilia.” 

232 


A COSTLY VICTORY 


“ No more than to Miss Learned.” 

“ She’s losing.” 

“ Yes, and that’s the whole trouble. We boys 
are managing this match. I’m going to have one 
of the Shaws umpire the next set. We ought to 
have had an umpire and a score-keeper all the 
time.” 

Nancy’s troubled face cleared. “ Cecilia won’t 
mind having an umpire if it’s one of the Shaws. 
You’re a very tactful person, Peter.” 

“ Sure, I am.” Peter ran off gaily to make his 
arrangements. Unfortunately, not knowing the 
Shaw brothers intimately, Peter chose the wrong 
one — the slow one. Cecilia’s decisive “ Out ” or 
“ In ” was merely echoed by the umpire, and as 
Christina offered no objections, things went on 
much as before, all doubtful points being scored in 
Cecilia’s favor. 

“ Managers will umpire and keep score for 
finals,” announced Peter briskly, when, after a 
short rest, Cecilia announced that she was ready 
to play again. 

“ And you’ll chase our balls too,” added Cecilia, 
with a scathing glance at Peter. 

“ All right,” agreed Peter serenely, taking his 
place on Alice Knapp’s side of the court. 

But it was no use. Cecilia had seen the flash 
of determination in her cousin Peter’s eyes, and 

233 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

she yielded perforce, and then proceeded to get her 
way in spite of him. 

“Cecilia will win," Alexandra told Nancy early 
in the match. “ When she looks like that, she’s 
mad about something, and when she’s mad she 
plays like a streak.” 

And indeed it was by sheer good playing that 
Cecilia won this time. 

Christina Learned, who sat down on the ground 
at Nancy’s feet to rest from her vigorous exer- 
tions, looked up at Nancy earnestly. “She’s 
really a fine player, Nancy. I wish we’d had — 
people to chase our balls, you know. But per- 
haps I couldn’t have beaten her even then. I’m 
sorry. I ought to learn to stick up for myself 
better.” 

Christina looked very small and tired and pa- 
thetic as she spoke. Nancy felt ashamed of having 
invited her to Halcyon, and then let Cecilia treat 
her so unfairly. Cecilia, over on the tennis-court, 
was shaking hands with Alice and boasting gaily 
that she never played her best unless people were 
watching. 

“ And then I did want the first prize,” added 
Cecilia. “ I’ve seen it, you know, and ” 

“ Cecilia, I’ll play you whenever you’re rested.” 
Nancy Lee tried hard to make her announcement 
sound perfectly casual and good-natured. If she 
234 


A COSTLT VICTORY 


owed something to Christina, Cecilia, too, was her 
guest in another way. 

“Oh, I thought you’d defaulted. I’m ready any 
time,” returned Cecilia, the hard little smile that 
Alexandra had spoken of settling again tight 
around her mouth. 

“ Nancy, do you think you ought to play ?” de- 
manded Christina in a frightened voice. 

“ I only know that I can’t resist,” laughed Nancy. 
“ Where’s Jane? I let her use my racquet.” 

Jane was down on the wharf. “ I thought I 
should explode and disgrace you, Nancy, if I 
watched any more of Cecilia’s tennis,” she ex- 
plained, “ but I’ll come back now and root wildly 
for Fair Oaks. Good for you, Nancy I ” 

“ I think you ought to ask your mother about 
playing, Nancy,” cautioned Christina. 

“ I can’t. She and Mrs. Little got tired of watch- 
ing us and went off for a walk. Besides, it’s all 
right. I can’t sit around forever ! ” 

By this time Nancy was in her most careless, 
irresponsible mood. She had almost forgotten the 
avenging of Christina; she was going into the 
match because she wanted a good, hard game of 
tennis on her own court, which she had never yet 
played on. She wanted the fun and excitement 
of playing Cecilia, and perhaps of beating her. 
She was tired of being cautious and sensible, — but 
235 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


she would be very careful of her ankle. She would 
keep thinking every minute that she mustn’t turn 
it or twist it or jump high and come down hard on 
that ankle. 

It was a bad handicap, being so fearfully out of 
practice. Nancy lost three straight games to 
Cecilia, and after each one the hard little smile 
deepened around Cecilia’s mouth. 

“ Any time you like we can rest a little,” sug- 
gested Cecilia, cool and unruffled, while Nancy 
puffed and panted from the unaccustomed exercise. 

“ Thanks,” said Nancy, “ but this is a regular 
match. We can rest when it’s over. Play your 
best ! I shall.” 

Nancy’s racquet caught one of Cecilia’s swift ? 
low balls and dropped it over the net into an un- 
protected corner of the court with the beautiful 
easy swing that is real tennis. After that stroke 
all Nancy’s skill seemed to come back. She 
played like a whirlwind, all over her court. Swift 
and sure, she slammed her balls on the back line, 
the side lines, wherever they were most surely out 
of Cecilia’s reach. 

The spectators applauded excitedly. The games 
piled up and up for Nancy. And the ankle never 
gave a twinge. It would have been nonsense to 
miss this splendid, splendid game ! 

The first set was Nancy’s. In the second, 
236 


A COS T L T VICTORY 


Cecilia, who had been taken unawares by Nancy’s 
sudden spurt, fought gallantly for every point. 
There were long, exciting rallies ; swift “ smashes ” 
close to the net ; maddening “ lobs ” that made 
Cecilia so nervous with their slow, wavering de- 
scent that she invariably missed them ; low, back- 
court balls that always proved too much for Nancy, 
who whacked at them, but only succeeded in mak- 
ing extra work for the ball-chasing umpires. 

The score tied at four games all. The fifth game 
went to Nancy. The sixth must be hers too, 
Nancy decided swiftly. If she lost and the games 
stood at five-all, that meant a long deuce set that 
would weary players and spectators alike. To cap 
the climax, the sixth game was a deuce game. 
Back and forth went the score : deuce, vantage in, 
deuce, vantage out, deuce. Neither player seemed 
able to win three points in succession. 

Vantage out I That meant that Nancy was 
ahead. One point more and the set and match 
would be hers. 

“ I will get it. I will ! I must ! ” Nancy whis- 
pered to herself, as Cecilia made ready to serve. 

“ Give her a smasher, Cecilia ! ” 

“ Win the point, Nancy ! ” 

“ Go for it, Cecilia 1 ” 

The gallery comment disturbed Cecilia, who 
served the first ball out of bounds. 

237 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ Careful ! ” called Cecilia’s partisans. 

“ Make it doubles ! ” advised Nancy’s. 

Recklessly Cecilia served another swift ball. It 
was in, and Nancy returned it. Cecilia sent it 
back. By a phenomenal rush Nancy was on hand 
in time to “ lob ” it to her opponent. Steadily 
Cecilia bided her time and sent back a splendid 
ball close to the back line of Nancy’s court. 
Coolly Nancy swung the ball back to her oppo- 
nent. This time Cecilia dropped it just over the 
net. 

“ Oh 1 ” breathed Nancy, and ran forward. She 
couldn’t get there in time ! She must ! Desper- 
ately she reached for the ball, hit it with the rim 
of her racquet, lost her balance, and slid to her 
knees on the court, just as the ball, hanging pre- 
cariously on the top edge of the net for an instant, 
dropped lifelessly to the ground in Cecilia’s court 
and rolled maddeningly toward her. 

“ Game, set, series. Nancy Lee wins,” called 
Johnny, who was umpire-in-chief. 

“ That was a lucky stroke, Nancy. I congratu- 
late you.” 

Cecilia stood by the net, holding out the con- 
ventional hand to the victor. But Nancy, very 
white and solemn, sat huddled on the ground, one 
foot — the one that belonged to the bad ankle — 
twisted under her. 

238 



SHE REACHED FOR THE BALL 





















































































































A COSTLY VICTORY 

“ Now I’ve — done — it — again ! ” gasped Nancy 
Lee. 

In a minute everybody understood what had 
happened and rushed forward to help Nancy up, 
to scold, to sympathize, to run for Rosa and Mrs. 
Lee, to telephone the doctor, to decide between 
bringing Nancy to the green bench or the green 
bench to Nancy. 

“ Goodness ! ” sighed Nancy, as she and the 
bench, having been somehow united, were being 
carried up to the house. “ What a mess you can 
make of things in just a minute ! ” 

“ Doctor Jennings isn’t in — won’t be till late this 
evening.” 

“ We can’t find your mother anywhere.” 

“ Dick and Johnny can carry you right up- 
stairs.” 

“ Alexandra’s bringing the prize, and your 
racquet.” 

Nancy, sick and dull with the throbbing pain, 
stared whitely at the sea of faces, listened, only 
half comprehending, to the torrent of comment 
and question, then shut her eyes to keep out the 
rushing, dizzying procession of people and things 
that seemed to swirl and eddy around her swaying 
couch. 

“ Do anything you want to,” she murmured. 
“ It hurts too much — I can’t think.” 

239 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

“ Oh, has anything happened? Can I help?” 

It was a new voice, with a little thrill in it that 
made Nancy open her eyes. There standing close 
beside her was Mrs. Roger Dale, the pretty bride 
who did not know about stove-dampers. 

“ Oh, how do you do ? ” Nancy tried hard to 
be cordial to the new guest, but Mrs. Dale cut her 
short. 

“ You’re hurt, poor child. Is it the ankle 
again ? What a shame ! Oh, I can see that it’s 
paining you cruelly. Shall I call my husband — 
he’s waiting for me out in the road. Unless your 
own doctor Oh, I ought to say that my hus- 

band is a doctor too. He’ll be only too glad to 
help. Of course I think he’s quite wonderful in 
his line, and sprains happen to be in his line.” 

Mrs. Roger Dale did not know anything about 
dampers ; with the aid of ten cook-books she could 
not achieve a respectable breakfast. But she 
knew how to send home a crowd of panicky young 
people in record time, without hurting any one’s 
feelings. She was an adept at hurrying Rosa with 
hot water, at consoling frightened little Josephine, 
and making Dick and the Learned twins feel that 
they were managing everything splendidly, with 
just a little of her help. As for Doctor Roger Dale, 
he was handsome enough, Nancy decided, to be 
the husband of Mrs. Roger ; and he had a smile 
240 


A COSTLY VICTORY 

that made you like him and eyes that assured you 
he could be trusted. He did strange things to 
Nancy’s ankle, rubbing and kneading it until he 
brought the tears to his patient’s eyes. But he 
promised wonderful results, if Nancy would let 
him work over the sprain once or twice more. 

“A new method,” he explained. “I’m just 
back from a year in the European hospitals. No 
need of being laid up long with a sprain nowa- 
days, if you’re willing to be hurt a good bit at 
first.” 

“ I mustn’t forget to tell you why I stopped 
here to-day,” Mrs. Dale explained to Nancy just be- 
fore she left. “ It’s to ask about that dear little girl 
you sent out to me the other day. Oh, the little 
cakes were delicious, but the girl who brought 
them was even more of a gift. She showed me all 
about my stove, and it’s cooked splendidly ever 
since. But she flew away before I’d even thanked 
her. Could I — would she be offended if I made 
her a little present — of money ? She told me how 
she was trying to pay her way through college.” 

Nancy considered. “ I don’t know whether 
she’d take it, Mrs. Dale, but you needn’t be afraid 
to ask her. Hope Haskins is the kind you can 
talk things right out with.” 

“ That’s the proper spirit,” exulted Jane, when 
the Dales had gone. “ We’re playing ’em off 
241 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


against each other, Nancy, in grand style. Hope 
needs money. Mrs. Dale needs wisdom about 
dampers. I believe almost everybody in this 
world has something extra that he would be glad 
to swap for something he wants. The only 
trouble is to start the right criss-crosses.” 

“ And another trouble,” said Nancy soberly, “ is 
to remember your own special job, that nobody 
else can possibly do for you. Mine was to get 
ready to help mother as soon as I could, and get- 
ting mad at Cecilia and sorry for Christina made 
me forget it.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” sighed poor Christina sadly. 

“ Well, it won’t be but a few extra days,” Nancy 
consoled her, “ if Doctor Dale is right. And any- 
way I’m the only one to blame, and it isn’t any 
use to worry now.” 

“ Life is awfully complicated, when you’re try- 
ing to do things,” sighed Jane. “ Let’s go up to 
the Dolphin, Christina, and see how the curl in 
its tail is working so far. Nancy will want to 
know, and besides, Mrs. Lee will be back soon, 
and mistakes are a lot easier to explain to a 
mother when you have her all by yourself.” 


242 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE LOOKOUT GAME 

The curl in the Dolphin’s tail worked. Busi- 
ness looked up the first day ; on the second, it 
was still brisker. On the third three carriages 
appeared on the Point roads marked with the tea- 
shop sign. Miss Willis’s nephew, with his five- 
cent fare to the Dolphin, was getting altogether 
more than his share of trade. People laughingly 
called him the jitney ’bus-man and went to the 
Dolphin first, whatever their ultimate destination. 
The other carriage-drivers eagerly adopted the 
popular sign. 

Nancy had to hear all this exciting news from 
the twins, who diversified quiet afternoons in the 
Birdcage with her by rushing off up the road to a 
spot whence the Dolphin piazza was visible. 

“ Crowded ! ” they reported eagerly, after nearly 
every trip. 

“ We saw some people going off in a carriage 
with a regular load of garden sticks,” little Chris- 
tina added more than once. 

“ They must have bought at least a dozen,” 
elaborated Jane. “ Every little helps.” 

243 


NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


Once, on the third afternoon, commissioned 
by Mrs. Lee, they went inside to buy cakes, and 
Hope, her eyes blazing with happy excitement, 
confirmed all their highest hopes. 

“ Seems as if we’d really got started at last,” she 
declared. “ People are all so curious about the 
queer little sticks. They come in to ask questions 
and they always buy something. We’re all so 
happy ! Tell Nancy that our things are almost 
beginning to wear out.” 

“ You’re staying on, of course ? ” Jane ques- 
tioned. 

Hope nodded. “ Such a funny thing happened 
the other day. The old gentleman at 1 Gray 
Gables ’ came to the Inn and asked for me and 
wanted to hire me to amuse his grandchild — the 
little sick girl that Nancy knows and Miss Willis 
makes lovely dresses for. He was fearfully angry 
when I said I couldn’t leave the Inn. But after 
I’d explained how I’d been engaged for the whole 
summer and how it wouldn’t be honorable to stop 
right in the busy month, when I’m most needed, 
he was all right about it. I told him I might be 
able to let him have my extra afternoons, if the 
Dolphin didn’t improve, and he’s coming to-day 
to see. I hope he won’t be cross at the poor Dol- 
phin.” 

“ Nancy says he’s awfully rich,” suggested 
244 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


Christina. “ Perhaps he’d pay you more than 
the others do.” 

“ Oh, yes, he offered me more,” said Hope 
quietly, “ but when you’ve given your word, you 
can’t let the amount of pay make a difference.” 

“ I’m more and more convinced of the beauty 
of my system,” Jane told Nancy, after they had 
given her the latest news from Hope. “ Play off 
your Lookout cases against one another and if 
possible make both parties swap extra things 
they’ve got and can’t use for things they need. 
That saves us all kinds of trouble. Only it’s a bit 
difficult arranging matters for the best interests of 
everybody,” sighed Jane. “ For instance, if we 
hadn’t resuscitated the Dolphin, we could have 
swapped some of Judge Smith’s money, which 
Hope needs so badly, for Hope’s recipe for happi- 
ness, which the grumbling Clare needs even more. 
That would have been a very good swap.” 

“ Well, what’s the next best ? ” demanded prac- 
tical little Christina. 

“ There’s another ‘ case ' that’s got what Clare 
needs ” — Nancy joined eagerly in the discussion. 
“ There’s the Miggs child with her ‘ grit and good 
spirits.’ But I don’t see how we’re going to bring 
the two of them together.” 

“Lawrence Who-are-you is a happy-sounding 
person,” put in Jane. “ I should think the 
24s 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


naughty, woebegone Clare would adore watching 
his treasure hunt/’ 

“ But what can she swap back to him, Jane? ” 
queried the practical twin anxiously. 

“ Friendship,” retorted Jane promptly. “ That 
boy needs friends, I should say, particularly in- 
fluential friends like the very rich Smiths of 
1 Gray Gables ’ to vouch for him and his mother. 
Judge Smith appears to like him, according to 
what the boys say, but he doesn't know anything 
definite about him. Children are great at finding 
things out. Clare could find out all about the 
queerness of Lawrence wliat’s-his-name’s family, 
and she could tell her grandfather ; and if ever the 
time comes when they need somebody to speak up 
for them ” 

“ No, Jane,” interposed Nancy hastily. “ You 
don’t understand about Clare. She’s not the kind 
of child to make friends with anybody. The other 
person has to do all that. You’ve got to coax her 
and amuse her and cuddle her and make her do 
as you want and not mind what she says to you. 
Oh, cheering up Clare is a big job ! I don’t believe 
any boy could do it. Certainly not a boy as queer 
as the Green Knight.” 

“ All right,” agreed Jane disconsolately. “ May- 
be we’ll have to do it ourselves. The swap system 
is a wonder, if I did invent it myself, but no system 
246 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


is perfect. There will always be things left over 
for the managers to attend to.” 

“ Well, I want the little Miggs child attended to 
more than anybody,” insisted Christina. “ She’s 
the saddest case of all we have. Think hard, 
Nancy, while we’re gone, how we can do some- 
thing for her.” 

Doctor Dale was coming to massage Nancy’s 
ankle, and the twins had seized the opportunity to 
let Bill and Joe conduct them out to Baxter’s 
Reef. 

When she had sped them on the way, Nancy 
lay back in her chair thinking hard — not at first 
about Mrs. Miggs’s brave little grandchild, but 
about all the happenings of the summer. Never 
until last spring had she been interested in any- 
thing beyond her own affairs — her own good times 
and her friends and family. And then had come 
that big overwhelming interest — Timmy. For 
a while she had thought only of him. Now her 
head was full of a tangled maze of other people’s 
affairs, especially other people’s troubles. No 
one of these people was as dear to her as 
Timmy. But they all mattered, though none 
were intimate friends, none mixed up with 
Nancy’s own personal happiness. She wanted 
them all to come out right, like the end of a story ; 
to find their “ places in the sun ” in the phrase 
247 


N A NC T LEE'S LOOKOUT 

that Miss Marshall had explained to them so 
beautifully in her farewell talk at Fair Oaks 
School. And it did seem as if Nancy could help 
a little, with Jane to think of lovely things like 
flower-sticks and the swapping system, and Chris- 
tina to, say, “ Will it work ? ” whenever impractical 
Jane and careless Nancy were inclined to go too 
fast and expect too much. 

Christina had bidden Nancy think hard about 
Mrs. Miggs’s grandchild, and finally Nancy got to 
her. She didn’t like to think very hard about 
another girl who could never walk ; having to lie 
in bed day after day cast such a big black shadow 
over the sunshine of living. And Mrs. Miggs had 
said there was no help for it. Wasn’t there ? All 
the youth and hope in Nancy cried out in revolt 
against the idea of a lifetime of suffering. 

Trying to imagine what it would be like to be 
hopelessly crippled, Nancy closed her eyes, to shut 
out the shady, flower-decked piazza, the lovely 
wooded slope, the gleaming, sun-kissed, wind- 
swept harbor. To be in bed in rather a dark, 
homely little room in a shabby little house down 
on the Neck, to lie there year in and year out, 
till you were old and died, — or perhaps it wouldn’t 
be so long. Two tears squeezed under Nancy’s 
tight-closed lids and streamed down her cheeks. 

“ Oh, good-afternoon I ” called a rather embar- 
248 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


rassed voice from the boat-house path. “ Per- 
haps I shouldn’t have come in by way of your 
wharf.” 

It was Doctor Dale. In a flash Nancy brushed 
away those two silly tears and assured her visitor 
rather haughtily that he was perfectly welcome to 
use the wharf and the path, if he found it more 
convenient. Her haughty manner was due, of 
course, to annoyance at having been caught crying 
and not being able to explain the reason. Doctor 
Dale would think she was impatient at having to 
stay quiet on such a lovely day. Well, he would 
have to go on thinking so ; it would seem even 
sillier to explain that she had imagined herself 
bedridden, and cried about that ! 

“ I’ve been sailing,” explained Doctor Dale, in 
an obvious effort to cheer his melancholy patient. 
" Sorry I’m late. There’s a bully wind outside the 
breakwater, but we had to tack in from there, 
and that’s slow work. Ankle bothering any? 
May I look at it right here ? ” 

Being kneaded and poked and patted and 
pounded didn’t hurt much to-day. For a while 
Nancy watched the doctor’s deft hands with interest ; 
then his performance grew monotonous and her 
thoughts wandered back to the other girl. For- 
getting all about the doctor, Nancy shut her eyes 
again and was back once more in the cheerless 
249 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


little room in the shabby house down on the Neck. 
Poor little child ! Nancy was rather weak and 
nervous from all that she had been through ; hard 
things seemed harder to her just now than 
ordinarily they would. Again those two pitying 
tears squeezed out and slipped down her cheeks. 
Indignant at herself, Nancy opened her eyes, 
proudly ignoring the tears, in the hope that Doctor 
Dale hadn’t noticed them. But the hateful man, 
who had not once lifted his eyes before from the 
level of Nancy’s ankle, was staring anxiously up 
into her face. 

“ I’m sorry,” he blurted out in eager apology. 
“ I hadn’t any idea that I was hurting you badly. 
You should have stopped me.” 

“ You haven’t hurt one bit,” Nancy assured him 
hastily. “ It’s not that at all.” 

“ Oh, I know,” the doctor nodded sagely. “ Sit- 
ting tight and missing all the fun that’s going does 
make anybody blue and miserable. But you can 
walk now. Try it.” 

Obediently Nancy jumped up and paced back 
and forth on the piazza. 

“ Why, it’s perfectly wonderful ! ” she cried. 
“ Only four days, and that ankle doesn’t wobble a 
bit. It goes beautifully. Oh, thank you so much, 
Doctor Dale ! ” 

“ Don't cry any more about a little thing like 
250 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


that ankle,” advised the doctor, hiding embarrass- 
ment under a brusque manner. 

“ Oh, but I wasn’t ! ” denied Nancy. “ I was — 
it sounds pretty silly, but I was just trying to 
imagine how it would feel not to be able to walk 
again ever.” 

“ Was that all the confidence you had in me ? ” 
scoffed back the doctor gaily. 

“ Oh, you don’t understand yet ! ” Nancy began 
all over again patiently. “ I wasn’t thinking of 
myself at all. I heard about a poor little crippled 
child who lives down on the Neck, and I was 
thinking of her and being sorry for her. Her 
grandmother is the nurse who came here to rub 
my other ankle — I mean she came the other time 
I hurt it. She told me about the child.” 

“ Well, you mustn’t tell me about any crippled 
children.” Doctor Dale seated himself comfortably 
on the piazza-railing and smiled quizzically down 
at Nancy. “ I’m on my honeymoon and taking a 
much-needed vacation into the bargain. Of course 
emergency cases ” — he waved his hand at Nancy 
— “ have to be attended to, in spite of honey- 
moons. But you mustn’t get me into anything 
else.” 

“ Oh, I wasn’t,” Nancy assured him earnestly. 
“ You couldn’t do anything for this little girl, be- 
cause there’s nothing that can be done for her. At 
251 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

least Mrs. Miggs — that’s her grandmother — said 
so.” 

“ Oh, she did, did she ? ” said the doctor, now 
glaring sternly at Nancy. “ Nonsense ! I don’t 
believe it.” 

“ Oh, don’t you really ? ” cried Nancy eagerly. 
“ Wouldn’t it be splendid if it wasn’t so ? ” 

“Umph!” Doctor Roger Dale still glared 
sternly. “ Not so very splendid, as far as I can 
see — unless they do something for the child.” 

“ Oh, no, of course not,” agreed Nancy sadly. 
“ But then ” — she brightened — “ I’ll tell Mrs. 
Miggs what you’ve said, and of course she will do 
something right away, if she can possibly find out 
what to do.” 

“ She probably can’t afford to do it,” growled the 
doctor from his perch on the railing. “ Not too 
sick to be cured, but too poor to be cured : that’s 
the child’s complaint, I should judge. It’s the 
complaint of a great many people in this world. 
You’re lucky not to know as much about ’em as I 
have to.” 

“ Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.” Nancy was 
determined not to be daunted in her quest for in- 
formation by Doctor Roger Dale’s curious display 
of ill-temper. Of course if he didn’t wish to work 
during his vacation, he needn’t ; but it wouldn’t 
hurt him any, now that the subject had come 
252 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


up, to tell Nancy what Mrs. Miggs should do if 
she could afford it. “ If it doesn’t cost too dread- 
fully much to cure her,” Nancy went on eagerly, 

“ maybe we girls could think of a way to make 
some money for her. Or perhaps they’d give her 
some of the profits from the big fair they always 
have at the Inn. It’s coming early in August, I 

think. So if you’d tell me what could be done ” 

“ My word ! You’re a determined young lady, 
aren’t you ? ” A faint smile was twitching at the 
doctor’s stern mouth. 

“ Why, — maybe I am,” admitted Nancy. “ But 
if you knew Mrs. Miggs, I’m sure you’d be de- 
termined to help her in any way you could. She’s 
so little and she works so hard, and yet she’s the 
cheerfulest person you can imagine. The grand- 
child is cheerful too, she says. Why, if she can 
be cured, Mrs. Miggs will be made ! ” 

“ I didn’t say the child could be cured ! ” The 
doctor was all nettles again. “ How absurd ! I’ve 
never seen her ! I don’t even know what’s the 
matter with her. You’re a very inaccurate young 
woman.” 

“But you did say ” began Nancy. The 

doctor jumped down from his perch on the railing 
and strolled impatiently off down the long piazza. 1 
“ See here ! ” He wheeled abruptly and came 
back to Nancy’s side. “ I haven’t yet said any- 
253 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


thing worth saying. Now I’m going to ! You 
tell this brave little grandmother that if she wants 
another doctor — young but well trained in a lot 
of the new surgical wrinkles — to come and see the 
little lame girl, why, he’d esteem it a privilege to 
be allowed the opportunity. Now are you satis- 
fied?” 

“ But you said,” gasped Nancy, 11 that on your 
vacation ” 

“Can’t you see just to look at me,” the doctor 
broke in irascibly, “ that I’m not the vacation 
kind? I can’t sit around and play at amusing 
myself. I’ve got too much corked up inside me. 
The world’s too sad a place — too many things 
need setting right. Didn’t Marion — my wife — 
tell you what we’re really doing down here, while 
her father and my mother fondly imagine that 
I’m resting after two strenuous years in Europe, 
and making up my mind to accept a fashionable 
New York surgeon’s offer to help him with his 
highly lucrative practice? She didn’t? I under- 
stood from her that you’re the good angel who 
sent her the expert on stoves.” 

“ Well, I am ! I mean I did,” laughed Nancy. 
“ But she only said she wanted to learn to do all 
the cooking for you.” 

The doctor smiled affably. “ Put it on the 
grounds of sentiment, did she? Marion’s a won- 
254 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


derful woman ; she can keep a secret — her scien- 
tific father brought her up that way. But I think 
you deserve to know why Marion’s so hipped on 
cooking. It’s because we’re planning to live on 
nothing much a year in a little house on a dingy 
city street, and be as happy as two skylarks hunt- 
ing up all the sick, miserable people and curing 
’em, and the stupid, untrained people and telling 
’em how to keep well and be happy. Life’s going 
to be one big chance to help — one big adventure 
of hunting up the people who want what you 
have to give and then giving it. My mother and 
Marion’s father are bound to be fearfully disap- 
pointed, but Marion and I can’t see things any 
other way.” 

“ Oh, how splendid ! ” Nancy’s voice was vi- 
brant with eagerness. “ Why, Doctor Dale, your 
idea is just exactly like the Lookout game that 
Mrs. Miggs taught me, to cheer me up about my 
spoiled summer.” 

11 Yes, dearie, and how’s the game going now ? ” 
demanded another eager voice from the sitting- 
room door. Then this new voice changed its tone 
suddenly. “ Oh, Miss Nancy ! ” With fright- 
ened, apologetic flutterings of the rusty black 
bonnet and the much-darned black gloves, little 
Mrs. Miggs, having suddenly perceived the doctor, 
stood poised for flight. “ That girl was tied up 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


with her dinner again,” she explained, “ and she 
told me to come straight out, as you were alone. 
When I heard talking, I s’posed it was only the 
children. I’ll run right along.” 

“ Please don’t,” Nancy begged her. “ It’s only 
my new doctor — Doctor Dale, Mrs. Miggs.” 

The young doctor made his courtliest bow to the 
shabby little lady, who beamed brightly up at him. 

“ I heard about Miss Nancy’s being so dretful 
careless,” she told him, “ and how you’re curing 
her something lovely.” 

“ He’s finished the cure already. I can walk 
now, Mrs. Miggs,” cried Nancy, and proved it. 

“ My I These new ways are beyond me,” sighed 
the little lady. “ Makes me wisht I was young 
and could start where you are.” 

“ So you like new ways, do you ? ” the doctor 
asked her. 

She nodded briskly. “ I like all the good ones,” 
she laughed, “ and the queer ones interest me. I 
s’pose I’m dretful old-fashioned in some things, 
but I try not to be sot What’s the use of living 
any longer, if you’re sure you know it all ? ” 

“ There’s one thing I don’t know that interests 
me,” declared the doctor. “ What’s this Lookout 
game that Miss Nancy says you recommend for 
keeping patients cheerful? A doctor can’t know 
too many devices of that nature.” 

256 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


“ I didn't tell her no game," Mrs. Miggs depre- 
cated modestly. “ I just give her a hint, and she’s 
done wonders with it. It ain’t my game; it’s 
hers. I guess it takes the young to be real good at 
playin’ games, doctor. Now my little grand- 
daughter — the one that’s sick — she’d make a game 
out of anything." 

“ Does she also play the Lookout game ? " de- 
manded the doctor. 

Mrs. Miggs shook the little black bonnet sadly. 
“ She couldn’t hardly — not the way Miss Nancy 
does. She hasn’t the chances to. But she’s got 
a part in it, all the samey. She’s Miss Nancy’s 
best case, isn’t she, dearie? Miss Nancy was 
cheered up something lovely after hearing about 
my poor little lamb." 

Nancy blushed violently. “ Well, I hope I 
have some sense,” she defended herself hotly. “ A 
sprained ankle seemed pretty bad at first — before 
I knew about this quick way of curing it. But 
Mrs. Miggs told me to be on the lookout for people 
worse off than I, and I found plenty. That was 
her part of the game, and the rest that I added 
was trying to do something to help. It’s been lots 
of fun — but of course you can see that." 

“ I can," assented the doctor briskly. “ In fact 
I agree with Mrs. Miggs that the best part of the 
game is what you added. Now don’t you let 
257 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

other people play too? Because — I think I’ve 
heard about this little lame child, Mrs. Miggs, and 
if she’s one of Miss Nancy’s cases, won’t you and 
Miss Nancy let me get into the game by trying to 
help her? Of course I can’t promise anything, 
but some of these newfangled ways, as you call 
them, might work.” 

Instead of being overjoyed at the offer, as Nancy 
had expected, little Mrs. Miggs stared hard at her 
would-be benefactor. “ Young man,” she began 
after a moment, “ you ain’t seeking experience so 
hard that you’d try silly experiments ? ” 

The young man in question seemed prepared for 
Mrs. Miggs’s suspicions of him. “ Yes, I am 
young,” he agreed pleasantly, “ but I’ve already 
had a good deal of experience, nevertheless. I’ve 

studied with ” He sat down beside Mrs. 

Miggs and slowly went through an exhaustive ac- 
count of his medical education. Mrs. Miggs lis- 
tened attentively, her gloved hands clasped in her 
lap, until she heard the name of a great foreign 
surgeon. 

“ You studied with him ? ” demanded Mrs. 
Miggs. “ With that very man ? ” 

Doctor Dale nodded. “And I think he’d tell 
you, if you were to ask him, that I made good in 
the work he’s so splendid at.” 

“ Then” — Mrs. Miggs held out her black-gloved 
258 


THE BEST MOVE IN THE GAME 


hands to the doctor, as if in token that she ac- 
cepted him, and spoke solemnly, as of deep things 
— “ then I know that you’re the best chance my 
baby has of being cured. Sammy Jennings ain’t 
up on the new ways. He’s been tied down here 
all his life, and couldn’t go to those foreign places 
to learn about ’em. But he reads what he can and 
he’s told me that children worse off than my dar- 
ling has been made as good as new by that great 
man. And you know his ways? You go ahead 
and do your best, and I’ll thank you with all my 
heart, and pay you all you ask, if you’ll just be 
a little patient.” 

“ Mrs. Miggs,” said the doctor sternly, “ don’t 
you know any more than that about the rules of 
good sport? Don’t you know that one always 
plays the game for the game’s sake, and for 
nothing else? You’ve done it often enough, I’m 
sure. Let me have my chance.” 

" Do ! ” begged Nancy, who had followed the 
colloquy with breathless attention. “ Please do, 
Mrs. Miggs ! The Lookout game will come out so 
splendidly if you will.” 

Mrs. Miggs lifted her little head proudly, and 
turning from Nancy to the doctor, shook it de- 
terminedly. 

“ See here ! ” Doctor Dale began after a min- 
ute. i( This is only a fair exchange, Mrs. Miggs. 

259 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Unless I’m a bad guesser, I’ve been a Lookout 
case too — or my family has. Isn’t that so, Miss 
Nancy? And Miss Nancy, a perfect stranger, 
came to our rescue in great shape. Now doesn’t 
that put the matter on a different basis ? ” 

Little Mrs. Miggs considered frowningly for a 
moment, and then threw out her gloved hands 
in token of surrender. 

“ The rules of this game are too much for me, 
doctor,” she smiled. “ I guess the principal thing 
is for you to help my baby if you can. I guess I 
can’t quarrel with you on details, leastways not 
now,” concluded Mrs. Miggs significantly, and 
made a bird-like dart to the door. “ Why, I 
clean forgot my next appointment,” she muttered. 
Then her voice broke. “ I couldn’t thank you 
even if I had the time, which I haven’t.” And 
with a telltale flutter of her handkerchief Mrs. 
Miggs vanished. 


260 


CHAPTER XV 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 

After Nancy’s manipulation of what little 
Christina Learned called “ the darlingest swap 
of all,” interest in the Lookout game rather lan- 
guished. The little White Girl coolly disposed of 
her own case by striking up a sudden and entirely 
inexplicable friendship with Billy Lee. For 
reasons connected with Clare’s possession of a 
pony, Billy reciprocated her friendly advances, 
and Josephine, model of adoring sisterhood, 
tagged along, consoled Clare when Billy informed 
her with boyish candor that she was a ’fraid cat or 
a silly, and kept Billy in his place by developing 
a daring in the matter of bareback riding that 
Billy, try his best, could not equal. Doctor Dale 
had begun treating Mrs. Miggs’s granddaughter, 
and the hope he held out of a cure, slow but 
certain, put new heart into the brave little nurse’s 
cheery optimism. Miss Willis, for whom the 
Dolphin’s tail had been so successfully kinked, 
showed a proper appreciation of her sudden pros- 
perity by sharing it. 

“ I can afford to pay you more now, and you’re 
261 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


well worth it,” she told Hope Haskins. “ You’re 
so quick in your motions that you do the work of 
two girls, and I’d far rather have you than half a 
dozen.” 

So Hope’s eyes were always starry these days, 
with the dear Dolphin flourishing beyond her wild- 
est dreams, and college for next fall almost a cer- 
tainty. Also, there had been two rainy afternoons 
when tea-shop business was bound to languish — 
but that was almost a blessing now, because Miss 
Willis could catch up with orders for garden-sticks 
— and on both days Miss Willis had told Hope 
not to stay. These unexpected holidays had been 
spent with Nancy and the twins. It took a very 
hard rain indeed to drive the girls in from the 
Birdcage. There, on her first free afternoon, 
Hope was duly initiated into the W. W.’s. 

“ We invented ’em to save Miss I-Forgot Nancy’s 
spoiled jumper,” explained Jane, when a mystic 
ritual, arranged by her, had been finished. “ When 
a thing’s spoiled, make a feature of it. That’s a 
good rule to begin life with. Well, first W. W. 
stood for Woodland Wanderers, which is pretty but 
tame, — though I may say there wasn’t anything 
tame about one of N. Lee’s woodland wanderings. 
Well, we got tired of that, and changed to Wonder- 
Workers. That’s what you are now, star-eyed 
Hope, a Wonder-Worker. See that you work ’em.” 

262 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


“ Oh, could I ? ” demanded Hope doubtfully. 
“ Tell me about some. I shouldn’t know how to 
begin.” 

“ At present,” Jane informed her majestically, 
“ the Wonder-Workers are principally engaged in 
helping N. Lee with her Lookout cases. We’re a 
sort of annex to her Lookout game.” 

“ You helped with one case, you know, Hope,” 
interjected Nancy hastily, “ that day you went out 
to Mrs. Dale’s and showed her about her stove- 
dampers.” 

Hope laughed merrily. “ But there was noth- 
ing wonderful about that, Nancy dear,” she 
protested. “ It was just plain common-sense — just 
knowing how.” 

“ Knowing how,” repeated Jane solemnly, “ is 
the whole thing, more often than not, as nobody 
realizes better than you. Isn’t the owl your sacred 
bird and an education your highest ambition ? At 
present the W. W.’s are trying to solve the mys- 
tery of the queer boy who digs for treasure 
and his queer mother who wears a green veil. 
Apply your owlish wisdom to that problem, star- 
eyed Hope. Have we given you all details to 
date?” 

“ I think so,” Hope told her, “ except whether 
the boys have heard the ghost since they’ve been 
sleeping at ‘ Gray Gables.’ ” 

263 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


The three girls burst out laughing. 

“ They sleep right through it,” explained 
Christina. “ Judge Smith’s secretary, who was in 
the next room, heard the noise faintly through the 
wall, but he never thought to call the boys, of 
course. He supposed they were investigating, — 
quietly, so as not to frighten the creature off. The 
next night he heard the ghost again and went to 
knock them up, but he had to go in and shake 
them before they woke, and by that time, natu- 
rally, the cries had stopped. The boys were awfully 
ashamed.” 

“Did Judge Smith scold?” asked Hope, who 
had had an experience of the irascible old gentle- 
man’s annoyance. 

“ No, but he teased them unmercifully,” ex- 
plained Nancy. “ Dick and Peter didn’t care 
much, but Johnny Andrews feels dreadfully. 
He is the soundest sleeper of all, and he doesn’t 
think he can ever be a regular detective, as he’d 
planned. He tried sitting up in a chair, but he 
fell out and slept sounder than ever on the 
floor.” 

“ Well,” said Hope philosophically, “ it’s a good 
thing he’s found out now what he can’t do. He 
can have something else already chosen before he’s 
grown up. It’s time I ran home to my tables, 
Nancy Lee.” 


264 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


“ You're sure you can’t possibly come with us in 
Johnny’s boat the evening of the regatta ? ” 
Nancy asked her. “ Peter said to tell you you 
must.” 

Hope shook her head sadly. “ I was off duty 
Fourth of July evening, and this time it’s my turn 
to stay in. You can’t leave a hotel all to itself, 
you see. Some of the guests will be sure to stick 
around the house. Miss Aurelia Pringle is afraid 
of the night air, and Mr. Richardson hates the 
water and never goes near it. Then Mrs. Augus- 
tus Walker, the one who talks to us about 
suffrage, has just had what she calls an attack of 
nerves. Doctor Jennings has been twice to see 
her, and her bell rings about once in ten minutes. 
So I shan’t have time to sit and sigh for lost joys,” 
ended Hope quaintly. 

“ We shall sigh for you, Hope,” Nancy told her. 

“ Peter specially,” put in Christina. 

“ Oh, thank you all for that ! ” cried Hope, quite 
unconcerned over all the teasing references to Peter. 
“ The weather report says fair and warmer to- 
morrow, so there ought to be plenty of moonlight.” 
Hope gave a little sigh. “ I haven’t ever been out 
in a boat by moonlight. Touch the little silver 
ripples for me, Nancy dear, and look hard for mer- 
maids. Good-bye.” 

“ Good-bye, Cinderella ! ” called Jane. “ Five 
265 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


is your fatal hour, instead of midnight.” She 
turned to the other girls. “ Wouldn’t I love to be 
her fairy godmother ! ” 

“ The reason she’s such a dear, Jane,” Christina 
assured her tall twin, “ is because she doesn’t need 
a fairy godmother. She goes ahead and makes her 
good times for herself, and she doesn’t let her bad 
times worry her. Now that call on Cecilia and 
Alexandra that we promised each other we’d make 
before dinner ” 

“ Is going to be one of my bad times,” Jane cut 
in blandly. “ Well, come along, girls. I’ll try 
not to let it worry me.” 

“ Try not to worry us, Jane,” amended Christina 
severely. 

“ Remember I’ve got to live next to Cecilia all 
summer and other summers, too, maybe,” put in 
Nancy. 

“ That reminds me, Nancy.” Christina pulled 
out a letter and passed it to her twin. “ Mother’s 
written to know when we’re coming home. Our 
two weeks’ visit was up several days ago.” 

“ Oh, but you can’t go until we’ve finished the 
Green Knight’s case,” Nancy protested. “ You 
don’t want to, do you ? ” 

“ Does your mother think so too ? ” asked Jane, 
evidently prompted by something in the letter she 
was reading. 


266 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


“ She told me to-day to keep you just as long as 
I could/’ Nancy assured them heartily. 

“ Then that settles it,” said Jane. “ Mother 
won’t specially mind, and we couldn’t bear to leave 
the mystery of the Green Knight unsolved behind 
us. It would seem like defeat. Under the cir- 
cumstances, N. Lee, I promise to be superbly polite 
to the hateful Cecilia. Only don't stay long.” 

The mystery of the Green Knight was destined 
to grow deeper before it was solved. Even his trio 
of staunch defenders was forced to admit that the 
evidence, though circumstantial, was strong against 
him in the matter of the big robbery at the Inn. 
Dick, Little Peter, and Johnny Andrews declared 
solemnly that the case was as good as proven ; and 
the two professional detectives who came out from 
town, in the interests of the Inn management and 
Mrs. Augustus Walker, confidentially assured their 
clients, who confidentially told their friends, that 
they agreed with the boys. 

But Hope Haskins, who knew more about what 
happened than any one else, disagreed. 

“ He’s a queer boy, and queer accidents might 
happen to him,” Hope declared. “ He acted as if 
he was telling the truth, and I believe him. Be- 
sides, I know it wasn’t his hand I touched. I 
know that positively.” 


267 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


But this is getting ahead of the story. 

Hope was quite correct in her assumption that 
the night of the regatta would be a busy one for her. 
Hughes, the office-boy, was madly in love with 
Miss Thornton, who had charge of the telephone 
switchboard and the news-stand. This fact seemed 
to both of them a sufficient reason for deserting 
their posts for others, within sight of the hotel en- 
trance and hearing of the telephone bell, on the 
invitingly empty, moonlit piazza. But Hughes 
speedily turned his back on the view of the en- 
trance, and the witty remarks of her escort, or 
perhaps the music that drifted up from the boat- 
house and the lighted craft in the harbor, com- 
pletely diverted Miss Thornton’s attention from the 
unromantic tinkle of the telephone. 

So Hope, running down to get a paper for Mrs. 
Augustus Walker, took two messages for guests 
who were out on the water. Coming back to 
change the paper — Mrs. Augustus Walker, having 
decided in the interval before its delivery that a 
News would suit her better than a Mirror — Hope 
noticed a young man standing uncertainly in 
front of the deserted office desk. Hope consid- 
ered. She had no idea where Hughes was. The 
other girls who were supposed to be on duty were 
not to be seen. If she delayed in delivering the 
Mirror, Mrs. Augustus Walker would certainly 
268 



HAS A TELEGRAM COME 













- 







































THAT FATAL REGATTA 


change her mind again about it. So, “ I’ll be 
back in just a minute,” she called to the perplexed 
figure by the office, and darted off, hoping that 
Mrs. Augustus Walker would let her fulfil her 
promise literally. 

Hurrying back without very much delay, Hope 
found the office enclosure still empty and the boy 
still waiting patiently beside it. 

“ Has a telegram come for Lawrence, Halcyon 
Inn ? ” he demanded, as soon as Hope appeared. 

“ I’ll see.” Hope ran through the little pile of 
telegrams on the file. 

“ Nothing yet,” she assured him pleasantly. 
“ Did Mr. Lawrence ask you to come up and see?” 

“ Oh, no,” said the boy easily. “ It’s our tele- 
gram — that is, it’s my mother’s. It’s really a cable. 
That’s her cable address — Lawrence. We live out 
on the Point, but she ordered the message wired 
here to save time. We haven’t a telephone out 
at our cottage, and she thought they probably 
wouldn’t bother to send a boy before morning. 
Do they mind — the Inn people, I mean ? ” 

“ Not a bit,” Hope assured him politely, and 
suddenly spied a tiny green feather in his hat- 
band. Could he be the Green Knight ? Law- 
rence — his mother’s cable address. Did one use 
one’s name for that purpose? Hope hadn’t much 
idea what a cable address was, but it seemed a 
269 


NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


queer thing to have, especially for people who 
didn’t have a telephone. And queerness was the 
family characteristic. “ If you’ll tell me where to 
send the message, I’ll have it delivered from here 
to-night,” she suggested, thinking gleefully that 
the address would clinch the boy’s identity. 

But he didn’t give it. “ I’ll wait on the piazza, 
thank you,” he said instead. “ The telegram is 
sure to come in a short time, you see.” He hesi- 
tated. “ What’s happening on the bay to-night? ” 

Hope explained. “ That’s why we’re so deserted 
up here. I presume you’d rather wait at the boat- 
house.” 

“ Crickets, no ! ” said the boy. “ I’m not ex- 
pected. Besides, I should be sure to get mixed 

up with No, I can’t do it, gay as it looks 

down there, and much as I feel like gay doings. 
I’ll wait on the piazza. Crickets ! What’s that? ” 
as a bell jingled with noisy persistence. 

“ House-bell service. Mrs. Augustus Walker, I 
suppose. If the telephone rings before I get back, 
would you answer it? It might be your tele- 
gram.” 

“ Sure, I’ll see to it,” answered the boy pleas- 
antly. 

“Thank you.” Hope, having verified her sus- 
picion as to the ownership of the noisy bell, darted 
off, intent upon silencing it, and then finding the 
270 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


missing office-force and assuring them that she 
really couldn’t run the whole hotel, considering 
that it contained Mrs. Augustus Walker. 

She found that lady in a state approaching hys- 
teria. “ Hope, where have you been ? Where 
are my black pearls? I told you to bring them 
straight to me, and the next thing I knew you’d 
vanished/’ 

Hope stared blankly at Mrs. Walker, who was 
sitting up in bed, one hand holding a purple 
boudoir-cap much awry on her head, and the 
other clutching a pink negligee tightly around 
her throat. Had Mrs. Augustus Walker gone 
suddenly crazy, Hope wondered dizzily, or had 
she herself? 

“ Why, Mrs. Walker,” she began, after a mo- 
ment of bewildered hesitation, “ you never asked 
me to get you anything like that. I got you a 
paper. Hadn’t you better lie down ? ” 

“You mean to say you didn’t hear me?” de- 
manded Mrs. Walker excitedly. “ But I heard 
you distinctly, rustling around among my suffrage 
papers. I thought you’d decided to sit and read 
a little, as I invited you to, the first time I rang. 
And when I spoke, you answered me. You said 
yes, or so I supposed, though it sounded more like 
a grunt. And I told you not to mumble your 
words. Didn’t you hear that either ? ” 

271 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ Oh, I wasn’t there ! I went straight down- 
stairs, because I had left some one waiting in the 
office.” 

“ Then who You didn’t go out through 

my sitting-room ? ” 

“ No,” said Hope firmly. 

“Then who You get my pearls now — 

top-drawer, right-hand corner, wardrobe trunk. 
Hurry, oh, hurry ! ” 

Hope hurried. The trunk stuck, as it always 
did whenever Hope had been instructed to open 
it. The drawer stuck ; a month of seaside damp 
had swelled it. And when it finally opened, it 
held only a very big purple bow and a very small 
bottle of smelling salts. Hope wrenched the 
drawer loose and ran with it to Mrs. Walker. 

“ Gone ! ” cried that lady. “ Gone ! I told 
somebody to get ’em, and they did it. Another 
robbery ! ” Clutching the pink negligee tighter, 
Mrs. Augustus Walker leaped from her bed to 
the floor, and flinging open the door chanted 
lustily, “ Help, burglars ! Help, burglars ! Boy ! 
Boy I ” 

Mrs. Walker’s room was directly over the office. 

“ Shall I come up? ” called a voice from below. 

“ No, send Mr. Bliss. This is business for 
the proprietor.” Mrs. Walker turned to Hope. 
“ Switch on all the lights ! ” she cried. “ Lock all 
272 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


the doors ! He hasn’t been gone from here long. 
We may catch him.” 

The loiterers on the piazza appeared, attracted 
by the shouting. Miss Aurelia Pringle, discover- 
ing its tenor, promptly fainted. Old Mr. Richard- 
son ran to guard the front entrance, leaving 
Hughes free to watch at the rear. Up-stairs Hope 
went swiftly down the long corridors, switching on 
lights in all the rooms. Almost everywhere the 
intruder had left his trail : bureau drawers emp- 
tied, trunks hastily unpacked, closets ransacked 
and in disorder. On the floor above, only a few 
rooms appeared to have been disturbed, but Hope 
went on, lighting them all. At the entrance to 
the servants’ wing she hesitated and started to 
turn back, then remembered with a start that she 
had left her summer’s savings in an envelope in 
her wash-stand drawer. Mr. Bliss and Miss Willis 
had both paid her that afternoon, and a foolish de- 
sire to see all her little hoard together had made 
her ask Hughes to give her her envelope out of 
the hotel safe. Before she got it back, the regatta 
excitement had begun, and she had stuck the pre- 
cious envelope in the first hiding-place that sug- 
gested itself. 

“But no burglar would go back there,” she 
thought. “ We have nothing worth stealing. 
Only maybe he wouldn’t know where the wait- 
273 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


resses sleep. And he might easily try to get out 
that way.” This last idea furnished Hope with 
the necessary excuse for looking after her money. 

There were no lights to switch on in the narrow 
back-hall. Fearlessly, in spite of her pretext for 
being there, Hope felt her way to her own door 
and then over to the corner where her match-box 
hung. She had just found it when a shadow 
dodged out of the next corner and swept past her. 
Hope reached frantically after it, and caught an 
arm, hung on for a minute, felt the arm slipping 
away and made a final clutch at a hand that a 
minute later had swung out at her and knocked 
her back hard against the wall. Staggering for- 
ward, she saw the figure — a mere shadow — vanish 
down the steep back-stairs. Hope put her head 
out the window and shouted down into the dark- 
ness : “ He’s coming out the back way. He’s 

coming ! The burglar ! ” 

“ Right-oh ! ” somebody called back. There 
was the crashing of a heavy body through the 
shrubbery, a shout, then disappointed silence. 

“ Perhaps the policeman will get him at the 
corner. He’s been notified,” suggested some- 
body. 

So no one had caught him here. Hope lighted 
her lamp, noticed, almost without caring, that her 
money was gone, and went wearily down to the 
274 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


office. Hughes was back in his place, and Miss 
Thornton, the picture of dutiful attention to her 
task, bent over her switchboard. 

“I say, Miss Haskins, you won’t tell on us?” 
she pleaded, as Hope passed. 

“ You’ll keep quiet about where we were ? ” 
begged the boy. “ It wouldn’t have made any 
difference ” 

“ Crickets ! ” The three looked up to see a drip- 
ping figure standing in the door. “ Has he come 
— the manager, I mean? He almost drowned 
me ” 

It was the boy who wanted his mother’s tele- 
gram — probably the Green Knight. 

Just then Mr. Bliss came hurrying down from 
an interview with Mrs. Walker. 

“ What do you want here ? ” he asked brusquely 
of the strange boy. 

The boy explained. 

“ Well, it’s come,” called Miss Thornton, anxious 
to appear efficient. “ Jock o’ Dreams a winner. 
Best terms arranged for England. Congratulations. 
Morris,” she read from the yellow slip. 

“ Thanks,” called the boy. “ I’m too wet to 
come in after it, but I can remember. Did the 
manager get here all right? He almost drowned 
me ” 

“ I’m the manager,” snapped Mr. Bliss, “ and I 
275 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


never saw you before. What do you mean by say- 
ing I nearly drowned you ? ” 

“ I never saw you before either,” said the boy 
pleasantly. “ The man who said he was the 
manager was taller and slimmer than you. Other- 
wise it was too dark to see. Did you get the 
burglar ? ” 

“ Before we go into that,” said the manager 
curtly, “ suppose you finish telling me how you 
got so wet.” 

The boy nodded. “ One thing at a time,” he 
agreed sagely. “ Why,” — he turned to Hope, — “ I 
was waiting down here for a telegram. You know 
about that. When the old lady up-stairs called, I 
asked if I should come up and she said no, find 
the manager.” He nodded at Hope again. “ You 
heard us calling back and forth. Well, I went. 
Down at the wharf a man was just coming in in a 
boat — or he might have been going out. I asked 
if he knew where the Inn manager was, and he 
said he was the manager, so I told him what had 
happened. First he said, ‘ Get in and we’ll row 
up.’ But I said, * You’re excited. We’re as near 
as we can get now. This is the Inn dock.’ And 
then he said, ‘ So it is. Take my oars, will you, 
while I jump out ? ’ Well, I reached for the oars, 
and he was so excited that he let the boat slip 
back and I was pulled in. It’s a job to swim in 
276 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


all your clothes. Still,” added the boy pleasantly, 
“ I didn't blame him for not stopping to help me 
out, under the circumstances. But you say he 
wasn’t the manager ? ” 

“ And who are you ? ” demanded Mr. Bliss, dis- 
regarding the question. 

“ I’m Lawrence Masters, Junior,” answered the 
boy promptly, “ spending the summer with my 
mother, Mrs. Lawrence Masters, out at the cottage 
called ‘ Fair Acre,’ on the Point.” 

“ I see.” Mr. Bliss’s curt manner had vanished. 
“ Sorry you got wet trying to help us. You’d 
better cut for home, hadn’t you ? Here’s your 
telegram. We may call on you later to help with 
the identification of our burglar.” 

“ But I didn’t see began the boy. 

“ You heard,” smiled Mr. Bliss. 

“That’s so,” laughed the boy. “Maybe that 
might help. Good-night, sir.” 

Mr. Bliss stepped quickly to the office-boy. 
“ Follow that fellow,” he ordered softly. “ Don’t 
lose him. If he goes to the ‘ Fair Acre ’ place, 
watch there till you’re relieved. Annex a Point 
policeman if you have a chance. Miss Thornton, 
call up that detective agency. Tell ’em to send 
out their very best men on the double-quick. Is 
Jock o’ Dreams a horse, I wonder? It’s a little 
late in the season for the big English races.” 

277 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ Oh, Mr. Bliss ! ” Hope’s eyes were big with 
fright and unhappiness and a sense of her terrible 
responsibility. “ Oh, Mr. Bliss, that boy isn’t the 
burglar. He came for his mother’s telegram, just 
as he said. The burglar has soft, long hands, but 
that boy’s are hard and broad ; and his coat is 
smooth, not fuzzy like that boy’s. I had hold of 
his hand and arm. Oh, I’m sorry I couldn’t hold 
tighter 1 But I do know that this boy is all right.” 

“ Ever hear of accomplices, little girl ? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” responded Hope quickly. “ But this 
boy ran right off to get you.” 

“ He ran right off,” agreed Mr. Bliss, “ on a 
fool’s errand, and he comes back — after the burglar’s 
escape — with a cock-and-bull story he can’t prove. 
It’s up to the detectives, but my impression is that 
the Masters family at ‘ Fair Acre ’ will bear watch- 
ing. By the way, Miss Haskins, Mrs. Walker ex- 
onerates you of all blame.” 

“ Oh, I do thank her for that ! ” cried Hope 
eagerly. “ Because I’m afraid I ran away while 
she was still talking, and that might have misled 
her into thinking I was there. I lost forty-nine 
dollars myself, Mr. Bliss.” 

“ You did ! ” Mr. Bliss was duly sympathetic. 
“Those pearls were worth four thousand, Mrs. 
Walker says. There’s no telling to-night what 
else is gone. Oh, here they come ! ” 

278 


THAT FATAL REGATTA 


The rumor of the Inn robbery had sped from the 
boat-house out over the bay, and the guests were 
hurrying up, in a clamorous, frightened crowd to 
see what they had lost. Hope watched them 
sadly, wishing she could have caught the burglar 
for them. But they were inclined to make a 
heroine of her for her unsuccessful attempt, and to 
divide the blame between Mr. Bliss and the Point 
police service. 

“ I’m the man you ought to hate most cordially,” 
she heard Mr. Ellis telling a bevy of ladies. “ I’m 
to blame for clearing the house out to-night and 
so giving the fellow his chance.” 

“ Did you lose anything, Mr. Ellis?” somebody 
asked. 

“ I really haven’t looked yet,” returned that 
gentleman. “ Nothing of value, I dare say. A 
man doesn’t scatter his valuables about as you 
ladies do.” 

“ Whose boat were you in to-night, Mr. Ellis?” 
demanded Louise Minot. 

“ Er — I was at the boat-house,” Mr. Ellis ex- 
plained drawlingly. 

“ You never asked me to dance,” pouted Louise. 

“ I didn’t dance, Miss Minot. I was a bit fagged 
with all my arrangements, you see. Just sat in 
the cool and enjoyed life. Didn’t realize what a 
bad job I’d put up on you all.” 

279 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ He looks awfully hot now,” reflected little 
Hope. “ I suppose he’s excited. I wonder how 
he got his trouser-leg wet.” With a little shiver- 
ing sigh Hope trudged wearily olf to bed. 


280 


CHAPTER XVI 


CATCHING AN EEL 

Mrs. Augustus Walker’s four-thousand-dollar 
pearls had been seen on suffrage platforms in every 
American metropolis. Mrs. Walker regarded 
them as a mascot for the cause, and her attack of 
nerves grew more acute as the days went by with- 
out their reappearance. But it was not Mrs. 
Walker’s loss but Hope’s, naturally, that fairly 
brought tears to the eyes of Nancy and Christina, 
and set the less sentimental Jane ablaze with 
righteous indignation. 

“ It’s a shame ! A burning shame ! ” Jane 
declared hotly. “ Even a burglar ought to have 
some decent feelings. He must have known that 
poor little room was servants’ quarters. And yet 
he risked being found to prowl around there a 
while longer and get a few extra dollars.” 

“ Perhaps he was just hanging around, waiting 
for a good chance to run,” suggested Christina 
charitably. “ And I suppose they feel that they 
have to use their time to advantage. It’s a sort 
of business like any other.” 

281 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


“ And it has rules of fair conduct like any other,” 
amended Jane. “ If I thought that Lawrence 
who-are-you-Masters, Jr., had anything to do with 
a mean, sneaking, small, outrageous, underhanded 

person like this burglar, I — I’d ” 

“ But he hasn’t,” objected Nancy. 

Jane shook her head gloomily. “ Every one 
else thinks that he has, or that his mother has. 
It does look fishy, — all that talk about a cable and 
then the drowning episode. It’s easy to say that 
the burglar pushed Lawrence into the water, but 
why on earth should he ? He could easily have 
promised to go and find the manager himself, and 
so have avoided a scene. I met Johnny Andrews 
just now down at the mail-box, and he discouraged 
me dreadfully. He was feeling very gay himself, 
because one of the real detectives has told him that 
as you grow older you just naturally get over the 
habit of sleeping so soundly.” 

“ Hadn’t the real detective anything more to 
the point to tell him ? ” demanded Nancy. 

“ No,” Jane reported. “ He says they haven’t 
seen anything wrong at * Fair Acre.’ Hope’s soft- 
handed, long-fingered man has vanished from 
these parts, leaving only that one insufficient 
clew. Lawrence Junior has dug as usual, from 
daybreak to a civilized breakfast hour, near Judge 
Smith’s barns. Mrs. Lawrence, Senior, has wan- 
282 


CATCHING AN EEL 


dered around the garden a lot and she’s stopped 
wearing her green veil. There’s nothing sus- 
picious in that — the suspicious thing was to wear 
it.” 

11 1 don’t think detective work is very interest- 
ing,” sighed Nancy. “ You never seem to get any- 
where.” 

“ And you have to be so careful,” added Chris- 
tina, “ not to let the ones you’re detecting see 
what you want.” 

Jane arose, the light of inspiration in her eyes. 
“ Good-bye,” she said. “ I’m going out on Baxter’s, 
I guess, — alone — to think. While I’m gone, you 
two be thinking here.” 

“What about, Jane?” demanded Christina 
practically. 

“ A way to earn back Hope’s money for her,” 
said Jane. “ Isn’t that our next job? ” 

“ We never can decide on anything without you, 
Jane,” protested Nancy. “ All our ideas will seem 
silly compared to what you’ll just jump at in a 
second.” 

“ Very well, then,” said Jane resignedly. 
“ Think about the weather, or don’t think at all. 
You can’t come with me, if that’s what you’re 
driving at, because what I’m going to do I can do 
best by myself.” 

“ What you’re going to do ? ” demanded Nancy. 

283 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ That’s what I said,” Jane returned, and started 
off down the path to Lighthouse Road. 

Christina looked after her soberly. “ She gen- 
erally wants me,” said the small twin with a sigh. 
“ She must be thinking of something wonderful, 
to act like that.” 

What Jane was thinking of was : how to catch 
an eel. The Lawrence boy was the eel. Johnny 
Andrews had told her, along with other scraps of 
assorted information, that the Green Knight had 
finished digging, been home for breakfast, and gone 
off to Baxter’s Reef. Jane was going to Baxter’s 
Reef. She was going to find out whether the 
Green Knight was the Inn burglar’s accomplice. 
She was going to see how he felt about Hope’s 
money. The others were all roundabout in their 
efforts; Jane intended to go straight to the point. 
But first she must catch her eel, and having failed 
at that sundry times before, she had an unwonted 
lack of confidence in her ability to succeed this 
time. 

So she hurried very fast along the road to the 
causeway, thinking, as she went, of various plans 
for making the queer boy stop and talk to her. If 
she could once get near him on the Reef, Jane felt 
she could rely on opening the conversation in a 
way to pique his interest and make him stop a few 
moments, at least, to listen. 

284 


CATCHING AN EEL 


She did not meet him on the road ; the causeway 
w f as deserted. Jane hopped along from one dry 
stone to another, scanning the big rock between 
hops. Nobody to be seen there, either; but of 
course the boy would be out on the ocean side. 
Gaining the top, with high hopes for the success of 
her enterprise, Jane was bitterly disappointed to 
find this side of the reef, also, deserted. Slowly 
she crept down the sloping rocks. There was no- 
body else out there. Dejectedly she sat down in a 
sheltered nook, gazing idly out at sea. Suddenly 
she jumped up. Almost at her elbow, just around 
the corner of a jutting crag, somebody had begun 
to whistle. When Jane jumped, the whistling 
ceased abruptly, and a low voice that seemed to 
come straight out of the rock said, “ Crickets ! ” 
A minute later the Green Knight’s head and 
shoulders wriggled up through a crack in the cliff. 
“ Hello ! ” said the Green Knight sociably. “ Sorry 
I scared you. I’m exploring an underground pas- 
sage. It’s pretty narrow at this end.” He 
wriggled a little further out of the crevice. 

“ You didn’t really scare me,” said Jane, grin- 
ning down at her literally trapped eel. “ Want 
me to pull you out?” 

“ If you’d just give me a hand up,” said the boy, 
“ I could sort of walk out by some footholds there 
are on the side.” 


285 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ All right.” Holding to a point of rock behind 
her with one hand, Jane held out the other to the 
boy. “ And when you’re rested you must show 
me where the passage begins. I love secret passages 
and caves and things like that.” 

“ There’s — a — dandy — cave,” panted the boy, 
struggling up from the passage-end, “ over on those 
rocks off there.” He pointed to a cliff down the 
shore. “ But you can’t get there except at dead 
low tide. I’ll show you some time. Let’s sit down 
here — unless you’d rather go further down.” 

“ No, I like it here,” gasped Jane. The elusive 
Green Knight was actually pressing his society 
upon her ! He, not she, was arranging their inter- 
view, and planning excursions for the future. 

“ You see,” said the boy, as if reading his com- 
panion’s thoughts, “ I’m going to have some fun 
after to-day — that is, if I have any luck this after- 
noon. Wish me success ! ” 

“ Why, yes, of course I do,” said Jane, resolved 
not to ask questions until she had switched the 
conversation around to the topic she was most in- 
terested in. 

“ Not that I haven’t had fun so far,” the boy 
went on. “ When you’re playing around alone 
you find out lots of things and get interested in 
lots of things that you never bothered about before. 
I haven’t minded it as much as my mother did. 

286 


CATCHING AN EEL 


But then she doesn’t care for exploring as I do, 
and she had to wear that veil. I say, you have 
awfully jolly times at the Lees’, don’t you ? ” 

“ Rather ! ” agreed Jane enthusiastically. 

“ They asked me to come there, the day I helped 
your friend home,” said the boy, “ and I’m going 
as soon as I can — to-morrow, if my luck holds this 
afternoon.” 

Jane saw a chance to switch the conversation and 
used it. “ We're interested in nothing but the Inn 
burglary now,” she said. “ An awfully nice girl 
at the Inn, a friend of ours, lost all the money she 
had saved by working there this summer.” 

“ She did ! What a shame ! ” cried the boy. 
“ So there really was a robbery. I thought the 
comical old lady was the only one who lost any- 
thing, and I had an idea that she’d find her jewelry 
after a while j ust where she left it. So it was a real 
robbery, was it?” 

“ Of course it was,” Jane assured him. “ Why, 
the girl who lost the money had hold of the bur- 
glar for a minute. If the men down-stairs had 
been as brave as she, I don’t believe he’d have got 
away.” 

“ I say,” cried the boy, “ I wasn’t very keen, 
was I ? I suppose he was the fellow who splashed 
me into the water. But as I didn’t know the 
manager, I couldn’t suspect anything wrong at 
287 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


the time. I wonder if the girl I talked to was 
your friend.” 

Jane nodded. “ She told us about you.” 

“ She seemed like a jolly sort,” said the Knight. 
“ I say, I’ve saved lots of allowance this summer. 
Spending money alone is no fun. I’m going to 
bring some of it for you to give to her, when I 
come to the Lees’. I’ll bet my mother sends 
some too. She can’t bear to know that people are 
in trouble and she not helping.” 

“ Doesn’t she know about the burglary, either?” 
asked Jane. 

“ Crickets, no ! ” said the boy. “We don’t 
know anything that’s going on here. We’re her- 
mits. We’ve been hermits, that is. She’s through 
now. She was going to have a garden party this 
afternoon to celebrate being through, but none of 
our neighbors could come.” 

Jane resolved on a bold stroke. “ Why couldn’t 
they ? ” she demanded. 

“ Oh, different reasons,” said the boy easily. 
“ Mother said she guessed they thought she was 
too queer to associate with. Being hermits does 
make people appear queer.” 

“ Well, you certainly appear queer,” Jane burst 
out upon him suddenly. “ I’ve talked to you for 
ten minutes, and you’ve mixed up so many things 
I don’t know about with a few things I do that 
288 


CATCHING AN EEL 


I might just as well be doing a puzzle-picture. 
Why don’t you try to act sensibly ? Why don’t 
you try to explain things instead of mixing me 
up? ” 

11 Why, I will to-morrow,” said the boy gently. 
“ It wouldn’t be playing the game for me to ex- 
plain to-day. I expect it’s not exactly according 
to rules for me even to be talking to you to-day, 
but after I’d startled you so what could I do ? I 
didn’t want to seem rude. I want to come to the 
Lees’, you see, where they have such jolly doings. 
I liked that girl ; she was so game when her ankle 
ached like the dickens. Those three boys seem 
like a good sort, too, and if there's one game I’m 
fond of it’s tennis.” 

With as much dignity as she could command, 
Jane scrambled to her feet. “ I must be going 
now,” she said. 

The boy jumped up too. “I’ll show you the 
passage,” he volunteered. 

“ I’m afraid I haven’t time now,” said Jane 
stiffly. 

" Shucks I ” objected the boy. “ It’s right on 
your way.” 

“ No, thank you,” said Jane, starting off. 

Solemnly the boy stared after her, then swiftly 
followed. “ I say,” he began, “ you think I’m too 
queer to associate with, don’t you ? ” 

289 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


“ Maybe I do,” agreed Jane, without turning 
her head. 

“ But there’s nothing wrong in being queer,” he 
declared. “ I s’pose we are queer, my mother and 
I, but ” 

“Nothing wrong, unless ” Jane shrugged 

meaningly. 

“Unless what?” challenged the Green Knight 
with determination. 

“ Why, unless there is something wrong, of 
course.” Jane’s air was suddenly superior. 
“ Queer people sometimes have queer reasons for 
telling queer stories and doing queer things, and 
for keeping themselves out of the way and not 
showing their faces.” 

“ Not showing their faces ? ” repeated the boy. 
“ Oh, you mean the green veil. That’s the cream 
of the whole joke, that veil. I thought of it, and 
my mother has needed it several times, I can tell 
you. But if you mean you think my mother is a 
suspicious character, because we’ve been playing 
hermit so hard, you’re most awfully mistaken. 

Why, my mother is ” The boy broke off 

suddenly. “ She’s told me never to say that. 
And I promised myself solemnly, cross my heart, 
not to tell a soul about what we were doing till 
we’d finished. I won’t finish till to-morrow — if I 
have luck. Still, rather than have anybody 
290 


CATCHING AN EEL 


thinking ugly things about my mother, I’ll tell 
you anything you want to know.” Jane’s rapid 
pace had brought them by this time across the 
causeway. “ Come back on the rock and sit down 
and fire your questions.” 

“ Tell me here,” demanded Jane coolly. 

Just at this critical moment a figure strolled 
into view down the bushy path to the cause- 
way and confronted Jane and her escort : a tall, 
slender man, with slender, white, long-fingered 
hands. 

Seeing the two, he raised his hat to Jane and 
called out to the boy, “ Good-morning, Masters I 
I caught an early train from town because I find 
I must be back again this afternoon. So if we can 
get our business over by lunch-time, it will suit 
me, and your mother thought it might suit you 
too.” 

“ Yes, sir. Of course, I’ll come right back with 
you.” He turned to Jane. “ I’m sorry I can’t 
stop,” he told her. “ But it’s all right. I can ex- 
plain everything when I see you again. Wish me 
success, so I can begin having fun to-morrow.” 

Ignoring the frigidity of Jane’s bow, the Knight 
waved her the gayest of good-byes and sprang up 
the bank to join the strange man, who was tall 
and slender and who had long, white, undoubt- 
edly soft hands. 


291 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Slowly Jane climbed the bank- to the road. 
Gloomily she trudged home. She had launched 
her bold stroke, and it had failed. Worse than 
that, she found her faith in the Green Knight 
badly shaken. Why hadn’t he been plain and 
straightforward with her from the first? Then 
the opportune interruption — by the man with the 
long, white hands. That was certainly suspi- 
cious. And if the Knight and his mother were 
crooks and mixed up with the Inn robbery and 
the earlier one at the Parke cottage, why, Jane 
had warned them. She had let the Knight know 
they were distrusted. They would be on their 
guard now. Jane longed to tell the boys about 
her glimpse of the strange man, but that would 
involve telling them also how she had muddled 
things in her interview with the Green Knight. 
She decided to tell nobody what had happened — 
not even Christina. 

“ Well, Miss Jane Learned,” Nancy hailed the 
wanderer as her lagging steps approached the 
Birdcage, “ if you’ve thought about as many 
things, besides the weather and nothing at all, as 
we have, you’ve been busy.” 

“ Haven’t thought of anything.” Jane dropped 
into her favorite chair. “ Sun made my head 
ache.” 

“ Oh, you poor thing ! ” Christina’s resent- 
292 


CATCHING AN EEL 


ment at Jane’s reserve with her was instantly 
forgotten. 

“ Well, what have you decided ? ” asked Jane 
briskly, to forestall any questions about her 
walk. 

“ Lots of things,” returned Nancy. “ First, that 
we’re going to do it — earn back Hope’s money. I 
mean every single cent of it. And if we get any 
extra, it’s to be for the Rocky Neck children’s 
Christmas. The Rocky Neck children are yours 
and Christina’s case, you know, Jane. So of 
course you want them looked out for.” 

“ And we’re going to have something that seems 
like Hope, Jane,” chimed in Christina. “ Some- 
thing sparkly and fascinating — like her eyes, you 
know. Now do you think we’d better ask Alex- 
andra and Cecilia and Louise Minot to help? 
It’s going to be lots of work to earn so much 
money.” 

“ And we’ve got to hurry like anything,” put 
in Nancy, “because the fete at the Inn is next 
week Saturday. Our little thing would seem like 
a tag-end after that.” 

“And just what is ours going to be?” asked 
Jane casually, as if she had known all about it 
once but had forgotten some details. 

“ Oh, you know, Jane,” answered Nancy 
quickly. “ Something queer and fascinating and 
293 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

sparkly — like Hope’s eyes and her gulps of happi- 
ness.” 

“ Um,” assented Jane absently. “ Then it ought 
to have mermaids in it and starfish in waving sea- 
pools and moonlit ripples on the water.” 

“ But you can't have things like that, Jane,” 
protested Christina. 

“ Oh, I don’t know,” objected Jane lazily. 
“ Maybe we could. Then there ought to be some 
little, brave, bright, jolly, unexpected things, be- 
cause that’s like Hope, too. And an owl, of 
course — we can have the owl for an oracle, to tell 
people’s fortunes.” Jane smiled reflectively. “ I 
suppose we’d better let Cecilia help. Alexandra 
ought to be a Summer Girl — Hope loves fluffy 
summer girls. And we ought to interest Miss 
Willis and Judge Smith and the Dales, of course. 
So we can’t very well ignore your next-door neigh- 
bor, Nancy.” 

“ And what shall we call it, Jane ? ” asked 
Nancy, an odd note of eagerness in her voice. 

“ Summer-by-the-Sea,” responded Jane without 
an instant’s hesitation. “ Really it will be Hope’s 
summer by the sea, you understand, with the 
troubles left out, because troubles aren’t enter- 
taining. I hope the boys will take an interest, 
and I think they will, because they admire Hope 
so for chasing the burglar. Don’t you think 
294 


CATCHING AN EEL 


Johnny Andrews would make a lovely sprawly 
starfish ? ” Jane had been staring in front of her 
as she talked. Now she turned her near-sighted 
gaze upon Nancy just in time to intercept her 
hostess in the act of silently clapping her hands, 
while she smiled triumphantly at Christina, who 
was looking very down-hearted. 

“ Thanks for your applause,” said Jane calmly. 
“ Make it as loud as you like. I feel that I de- 
serve it. I’ve planned this whole affair for you, 
starting from a few general and perfectly obvious 
suggestions.” 

“ There ! ” cried Christina joyously. “ I said we 
couldn’t fool you into thinking we’d planned it, 
and Nancy said we could. Go and make lemon- 
ade for the crowd, Nancy ! ” 

Nancy rose, pouting. “ Of course I spoiled it 
all by clapping too soon,” she sighed. 

“ Not this time, Miss I-Forgot,” Jane assured 
her comfortingly. “ I’ve been laughing up my 
sleeve at you two ever since I sat down here, and 
began listening to your childish prattle. You 
can’t fool Jane Learned all the time ! I’ve been 
taken in once this — recently, and now I’m sitting 
up straight and taking a great deal of notice.” 

When Nancy had gone for the lemonade, Jane 
reached over and hugged her little twin affection- 
ately. “ You’re such a comfort, Christina dar- 
295 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


ling,” she said, “ because you always believe in me. 
I’ll never go mooning off without you again.” 

“ No, don’t, Jane,” advised Christina practi- 
cally, “ because you never remember to keep out of 
the hot sun.” 


296 


CHAPTER XVII 


“ SUMMER-BY-THE-SEA ” 

“ You’d think that the more people you had to 
help, the easier things would be ; but they’re much 
harder,” sighed Nancy Lee, dressing hurriedly for 
an “ afternoon of wonder, mystery, jollity, and ex- 
citement called Summer-by-the-Sea,” to quote one 
of the posters that flaunted from the trees along 
Lighthouse Road. Each poster was different and 
they were all amusing, having been composed by 
Jane Learned and laboriously printed by Peter 
Little. Peter had shown real devotion to Hope by 
plodding through all the most stupid and monot- 
onous tasks connected with the entertainment in 
her behalf. 

Nobody outside the small circle of Hope’s friends 
knew that “ Summer-by-the-Sea ” was being given 
mainly to make good the loss of her earnings. 
Hope herself had no idea of it. 

“ She might feel embarrassed about coming,” 
Nancy had decreed, “ and she mustn’t miss it. 
It will be one big gulp of joy for her, and the sur- 
prise of getting the money afterward will be 
another.” 


297 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


So the posters vaguely mentioned “ local 
benefits ” ; and in view of all the promised attrac- 
tions, nobody asked inconvenient questions. 

Nancy was dressing in a corner of Josephine’s 
room, for her own had been turned over to the use 
of what Josephine called “ the fancy figures.” It 
was early, and only one “ fancy figure ” had 
appeared, little Mrs. Miggs. 

“ I alius like to be on time,” she had explained 
her early arrival. “ I do get so flustered when I 
have to hurry.” 

Mrs. Miggs was to be the Owl ; at least she was 
to personate the bird of wisdom from two to four, 
after which Judge Smith had agreed to take her 
place. Judge Smith was in the secret about 
Hope, and he had not hesitated a moment in 
promising to do “ any fool thing you want ” to 
help along so good a cause. 

“ Well,” said Mrs. Miggs, who sat, costume in 
hand, ready to don it at the appointed hour and 
take up her abode in the hollow tree constructed 
by the patient Peter for the Owl’s nest, — “ Well, 
I’ve noticed that gen’ally if you want a thing done 
quick and easy, you go do it alone.” 

“ And then you don’t have to discuss it,” agreed 
Nancy. 

“ Exactly,” Mrs. Miggs added briskly. “ But 
of course one person can’t do but just so much. 

298 



“my balloons aren’t here” 


* 





" SUMMER-BT-THE-SEA ” 


And then ‘ the more the merrier,’ as the saying 
goes. For instance, I shall have more to look back 
to, thinking I’ve worn the same disguise as the 
richest man in Halcyon, than if he wasn’t in it. 
I hope you ain’t plumb wore out, Miss Nancy, 
with all of us draggin’ different ways.” 

“ Oh, no,” laughed Nancy. “ Jane said to let 
each thing manage itself, so I have. Besides, I’m 
not the worrying kind, you know, Mrs. Miggs. 
I’m the careless kind. But I’ve tried hard to 
think of everything necessary for to-day and I 
hope I’ve succeeded. There, I’m ready I ” 

“ You certainly look awful nice,” said Mrs. 
Miggs, surveying Nancy admiringly. “ What do 
you represent ? ” 

“Just myself,” laughed Nancy. “I thought 
somebody would have to fill in cracks, so that’s 
what I’m ready for. Jane calls me general man- 
ager, but I’m not that really. Let’s go down now. 
Do you think lots of people will come, Mrs. Miggs ? ” 
“ You couldn’t keep ’em away,” declared the 
little lady, hopping along by Nancy’s side. “ Hav- 
ing a good time is a powerful sight of work for 
most folks. They won’t be apt to miss all the 
help promised by Miss Jane’s posters.” 

Down-stairs there was the bustle of final arrange- 
ments and last-moment complications. 

“ My balloons aren’t here, Nancy,” Cecilia Green 
299 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


assailed the general manager, who preferred to 
consider herself a filler-in of cracks. “ So I have 
nothing to do.” 

Nancy manfully repressed a smile. Cecilia had 
wanted to be a mermaid, until she found that the 
mermaids’ rocks were away off at the Little cottage. 
Then she had wanted to be a sea-anemone, until 
she discovered that the Shaw brothers, who had 
originally been featured in the sea-garden, had 
decided to dress as chefs and manage the candy 
booth. After that Cecilia asked a great many 
questions, heard that Louise Minot had suggested 
being a balloon-seller, and bullied Louise, who had 
light hair, out of the part on the plea that she 
couldn’t possibly look it. Now, dressed in a 
picturesque Italian costume but without her 
balloons, Cecilia stood frowning glumly at Nancy. 

“Why, let me see. Couldn’t you You 

look so pretty, Cecilia. Couldn’t you just saunter 
around and amuse people, and get them interested 
in doing the different things ? ” 

Cecilia shrugged scornfully. “ No fun in that, 
and my costume wouldn’t have any point.” 

Nancy thought a minute longer. “ Couldn’t 
you help serve ice-cream? They’ll need more 
waitresses, I’m sure. The girls there are wearing 
peasant dresses.” 

“ But that’s so commonplace,” sniffed Cecilia. 

300 


“SUMMER-BT-THE-SEA ” 


Christina Learned, who had joined them in time 
to hear most of this colloquy, came loyally to 
Nancy’s rescue. 

“ You may have my place at the Lettuce Patch, 
Cecilia,” she offered. “ Italians sell vegetables.” 

The Lettuce Patch was near the candy booth. 
It was one of Jane’s “ little, brave, bright ” touches 
— a novel variety of grab-bag. The paper lettuce- 
heads were growing in a sand-bed, and patrons 
chose their own plants, each of which had a “ sur- 
prise package ” instead of a root. 

“ Yes, my costume would be all right for that,” 
agreed Cecilia complacently. 

“But what will you do, Christina?” asked 
Nancy anxiously. 

“ Oh, I’ll find plenty of things,” returned Chris- 
tina, who was whole-heartedly interested in the 
success of the afternoon. “ For one I’ll probably 
have to make more lettuce plants. I don’t 
think we have enough, especially if Cecilia sells 
them.” 

“ I can sell lots,” chimed in Cecilia eagerly. “ I 
know so many people here, somehow — lots more 
than Alexandra does.” 

“ But, Christina, you don’t want to be working 
in the house ” 

Somebody else came running up to the general 
manager with a tale of woe about the ice-cream, and 
301 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Nancy had to let Christina and Cecilia settle their 
own destinies. 

Mrs. Miggs had been quite right about the effect 
of Jane’s posters upon the population of Halcyon. 
Just as everybody who had been asked to help had 
joyously consented, and suggested friends who 
would like to help too, so everybody who could 
have been expected to do so came to behold the 
glories of “ Summer-by-the-Sea,” and brought 
others with them. The mermaids, down on the 
Littles’ rocks, were admired by thronging multi- 
tudes. The sea-gardens, to which one was carried 
in the Andrews motor-boat, with their giant 
starfish and mammoth sea-anemones in assorted 
colors, were so popular that other boats had to be 
pressed into service. More ice-cream was ordered in 
hot haste. The gardeners sold all the flower-sticks 
contributed by Miss Willis before three o’clock, and 
the dairy-maids had almost as good luck with their 
flowers. The Lettuce Patch was not half big 
enough, in spite of Christina’s efforts to keep it re- 
plenished, and the Summer Girls’ dancing pavil- 
ion-by-courtesy on the tennis-court was a scene of 
gaiety all the afternoon. As for the Owl, you 
couldn’t get near the wise bird’s lair without a 
long interval of patient waiting in line. 

“ But she’s worth waiting for,” Mrs. Augustus 
Walker assured everybody loudly. Mrs. Walker, 
302 


“ SUMMER-BT-THE-SEA ” 


who had suddenly decided that her shattered 
nerves needed the tonic of social intercourse, was 
patronizing “ Summer-by-the-Sea ” in royal fashion. 
“ She’s so quick and so clever 1 I asked her about 
my pearls, of course. ‘ You lost them through 
your own fault,’ she said, ‘ and you’ll find soon 
what became of them.’ Now it was my own fault, 
but how did she know that ? I haven’t felt called 
upon to make a laughing-stock of myself by telling 
that part of the story. You know I really believe 
those pearls will be found I I thought it would do 
me good to come down here to-day ! ” 

Mrs. Miggs was such a success at pleasing the 
crowd that Nancy wished she might keep at it all 
the afternoon, especially as Judge Smith was mak- 
ing himself very useful as a “ barker ” for the sea- 
garden, where Clare was a pink anemone. But as 
she was afraid of arousing his irascible temper if 
she suggested the change, she escorted him to the 
Owl’s nest at the proper time, and there Mrs. Miggs, 
before she relinquished the Owl’s head, told his 
fortune. 

“ You’re a wise man,” squeaked the Owl, “ but 
you ain’t been for long. You’ve learned something 
to your advantage this summer, and you’ll learn 
more before it’s gone. Somebody’ll give you a 
lovely present ” 

“ Here I ” Judge Smith interrupted her gaily. 

303 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


“ You’re all right so far, but you’d better stop. 
Nobody gives me presents I Now wait a minute. 
Help me into those feathers, and then I’ll tell your 
fortune. You're going to inherit a tidy bit of 
money before the summer’s over. You’re going on 

a journey. You’re Upon my word, I think 

you’re going to be married, Mrs. Miggs.” 

“ Will you hear that ? ” tittered Mrs. Miggs ex- 
citedly. “ Me inherit money ? Why, there ain’t 
a Miggs in the world that’s got a penny to leave, or 
a Ferris either. I was born a Ferris. I shan’t 
worry about the journey or the wedding till I see 
the money, Judge Smith.” 

After that the general manager had a strenuous 
time of it. First Hope burned her wrist badly 
with hot water at the tea-stand. Then Clare Smith 
fell off her rock into the water, and though she 
could be easily dried off, her sea-anemone costume 
could not, and she was inconsolable until Susan 
suggested that Billy find somebody to take his 
place in the sea-garden, and Clare and he get her 
pony-cart and rent rides down the road to the 
children. Next, the girl who had been washing 
sherbet glasses inexplicably disappeared, and 
Nancy set to work at that job. 

So it was in the kitchen, bending over her pans 
of hot water, that, late in the afternoon, Cecilia 
found her. 


304 


“ SUMMER- BY-THE-SEA ” 


“ The Lettuce Patch is sold out,” she announced, 
looking in the window at hot, hurrying Nancy. 

“ That’s good,” said Nancy absently. “ Want to 
carry some of these glasses down to the Bird- 
cage ? ” 

“ No,” said Cecilia briefly, “ I’m tired but I'll 
find Peter for you. He’s another of these tireless 
workers.” 

Peter appeared in a minute, followed presently 
by Cecilia. This time she came around to the 
kitchen door. “ I’ll wipe for you,” she offered. 
“ Peter says I’m an awful shirk. Does — does Dick 
think I am a shirk ? ” 

“ I never heard him say so,” said Nancy. 

“ Peter calls me a cheat too,” went on Cecilia 
calmly. “ He said you knew I cheated in the 
tennis-match with Christina Learned.” 

“ Oh, well ” began Nancy, dreadfully em- 

barrassed. 

“ Then you did think so ! ” Cecilia had the 
grace to blush hard. “ I thought of course you 
wouldn’t have asked me to help to-day, and Chris- 
tina certainly wouldn’t have given up her place 
to me, if you agreed with Peter.” Cecilia gave a 
sigh. “ I — I didn’t mean to cheat, Nancy. Hon- 
estly, when I want to win at tennis, I see the balls 
the way I want them to be. Look here.” Cecilia 
laid down her dish-cloth and faced Nancy sol- 

305 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


emnly. “ Will you please tell me what fun you’ve 
had out of this show? You’ve run around help- 
ing fussy old ladies, and you’ve bandaged up 
Hope Haskins, and dried off that dreadful Clare 
Smith, and washed dishes. You haven’t danced 
once, or had an ice, or talked to any of the boys. 
What’s the use ? ” 

“ Why, just to get things done, I suppose,” 
Nancy suggested doubtfully. “ A lot of hard 
work goes into a thing like this — into anything 
that’s worth doing — even into real fun.” 

“ I never thought about that,” said Cecilia. 
“ Anyhow, I always try to get out of the work. 
So does Alexandra, but she’s more polite about it, 
so people like her better. Tell me honestly, 
Nancy, do you really like to work for other people 
the way you’re doing to-day for Hope? ” 

“ Yes, I do,” said Nancy promptly. 

“ Of course it makes you awfully popular,” 
mused Cecilia. 

“ Oh, Cecilia ! ” Nancy stopped splashing to pro- 
test. “It’s not that! It’s just — oh, a feeling inside.” 

Cecilia sighed. “ It’s a feeling that’s left out of 
me, I’m afraid. But I do think it was square of 
Christina Learned to let me have her place, and 
I’m going to tell her so. Peter says I act as if it 
was the natural thing for people to give up things 
I want.” 


306 


“SUMMER-BT-THE-SEA ” 


“ Peter’s very frank, isn’t he ? ” laughed Nancy. 

“ Well,” Cecilia confessed honestly, “ I — I 
generally nag him into it. Here he comes now. 
Don’t you ever tell him or Alexandra that I’m be- 
ginning to see that maybe I am a shirk and self- 
ish and a snob and — oh, but I never did mean to 
be a cheat, Nancy ! ” 

“ Next time you’ll see the balls straight, I’m 
sure,” said Nancy cheerfully, “ and I won’t tell 
them, of course. Just this one tray more of 
glasses, Peter.” 

“ I’ll tend to those in a few minutes. Put your 
head close to the screen, Nancy.” Peter’s manner 
was full of suppressed excitement. “ The Knight’s 
here with his mother and a strange man. He’s 
looking for you, I think. Come right out.” 

“ Oh, I can’t, Peter,” Nancy objected sadly. 
“ These glasses will be needed in a minute, 
and ” 

“ I’ll wash for a while,” volunteered Cecilia 
abruptly. “ Go and do what he wants you to, 
Nancy. You might give me a chance at that good 
feeling,” she added in a whisper, as Nancy hesi- 
tated. 

The Knight and his party were having ices at 
the Birdcage. His mother and the man — Jane’s 
man — were obviously enjoying the ices and the 
Birdcage, the crowd and the spirit of revelry that 

307 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


was abroad. Bat the Knight nibbled his ice with 
an absent air, ignored the Birdcage, frowned at the 
revelry, and scanned the crowd anxiously for some 
one he could not find. When Peter and Nancy ap- 
peared he saw them instantly, and stooping to ex- 
plain to his mother he went to meet them. 

“ Hello I ” he greeted Peter cheerfully, and 
asked after Nancy’s ankle. 

“ Which one ? ” inquired Nancy demurely. 
" I’ve had two sprains, and they’re both well. 
You’re very slow.” 

“ I’m afraid your tall friend who’s visiting you 
thinks so,” agreed the boy. “ Is she here ? ” 

“ She’s off on the rocks being a purple sea- 
anemone,” explained Nancy. “ The boats take 
you over, if you want to see her. But I didn’t 
know ” 

“ Will you tell her that I didn’t have any luck 
that day, in spite of her good wishes ? ” the boy 
hurried on eagerly. “ But I’m hoping for better 
fortune to-morrow. I couldn’t help feeling that 
my breaking the rules of my game by talking to 
her that day the way I did was what spoiled my 
chance ; so I haven’t dared to come and explain 
things to her as I promised. To-day doesn’t ex- 
actly count because I came to please my mother. 
Will you give my message, and may I come to see 
you after to-morrow ? ” 


308 


“ S UMMER-BT-THE-SEA ” 


“ Yes, but when did you talk to Jane ? " began 
Nancy, when a stout elderly lady, a stranger who 
had motored up from some other seaside colony, 
wedged her way between Nancy and the Knight, 
in a determined effort to see what was going on in 
the Birdcage. Suddenly she caught sight of the 
Knight. 

“ Why, Laurie Masters ! ” she cried. “ You 
here ! Where's your mother ? Up there ? Take 
me to her this instant ! ” 

With a helpless look at Nancy, the Knight let 
himself be propelled resistlessly toward the Bird- 
cage. Nancy watched the stout lady half smother 
little Mrs. Masters in an embrace, shake hands 
hurriedly with the strange man, and then, drag- 
ging Mrs. Masters along with her, while the man 
and Lawrence followed meekly in her train, rush 
back to her car. 

“ Some place where we can talk — thought you 
were in France — unfriendly not to let me know," 
she was gasping breathlessly as she passed Nancy. 
The Green Knight, to whom she had unceremo- 
niously handed her coat, her shopping-bag, her 
lorgnette, and a huge bunch of sweet-peas that 
she had bought, stared straight ahead, his lips set 
in an angry line. For once in his happy-go-lucky 
life the Green Knight was distinctly annoyed. 

“I say, Nancy," Peter, who had been among 

309 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


the crowd, appeared at her elbow. “ Who’s the 
fat old party ? Well, we have her sized as another 
confederate. When they came, Mrs. Augustus 
Walker sent her motor for the detectives. 
They’ve evidently got wind of it somehow. Did 
you see that fellow’s hands — -just what Hope de- 
scribed.” 

“ What I want to know,” said Nancy, “ is when 
that boy ever talked to Jane.” 

“ We’ll go and ask the secretive sea-flower,” said 
Peter. 

“ You go,” Nancy told him. “ Cecilia was so 
sweet about the dishes that I’d better go back.” 

“ Before she turns sour again,” laughed Peter. 
“ Well, I’ll report what Jane has to say for her- 
self.” 

Peter was back before long in a state of grand 
excitement. He found Nancy alone, Cecilia hav- 
ing been summoned to help count the money 
from the Lettuce Patch. 

“ Jane saw the same man,” he explained. 
“ Why she didn’t tell us about his hands passes 
me — some silly girl-whim, I gathered from her 
muddled explanations. But it’s all right any- 
how, as he’s still here. The detectives think the 
crowd will try to make a killing at the cottages 
the night of the Inn fair. We’re going to have 
everything guarded. Of course I shan’t have the 
310 


“SUMMER-BY-THE-SEA” 


luck to be in the right place,” sighed Peter, “ but 
it’s pretty exciting, nevertheless.” 

Nancy had finished her dishes and come out to 
join Peter, just as Miss Aurelia Pringle appeared, 
mincing down the path and peering about her as 
if in search of some small and elusive object. 

“ Have you seen Professor Fenwick ? ” she asked 
Nancy. “ I’m positively assured he’s here, but I 
can’t find him.” 

“ I’m afraid I don’t know him, but I’ll try to 
find him for you,” said Nancy obligingly. 

“ Thank you, my dear.” Miss Aurelia Pringle 
sighed with relief. “ This is the second time I’ve 
heard the dear man was in Halcyon. He was a 
devoted friend of my late brother. Tall and 
handsome, my dear, with beautiful, long hands. 
You couldn’t fail to notice his hands — so refined 
and expressive.” 

With a wink at Nancy, Peter joined in the con- 
versation. “ Is your friend a professor of breaking 
and entering ? ” he asked. 

“ He’s a professor of mathematics in the best 
boys’ school in New York,” returned Miss Pringle 
acidly. “ I never heard of that new science you 
mention.” She turned to Nancy. “ I’ll wait for 
you here.” 

“ Well,” — Peter defended himself against 

Nancy’s reproaches, — “ the only man whose hands 
3 “ 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


I’ve noticed to-day belongs supposedly to the pro- 
fession of breaking and entering.” 

“ Supposedly I ” chanted Nancy mockingly. 
“ I wish he was still here, — Peter Little ! I’d 
ask him if he was Professor Fenwick. Probably 
that’s just who he is. And then up would go 
your silly theory about my nice Green Knight.” 

Peter stared. “ You mean to say you still think 
that boy and his mother are on the square ? ” 

Nancy nodded vigorously. “ I haven’t seen 
any good reason not to think so. He did me a 
very good turn, and I shan’t go back on him until 
I have proof positive.” 

“ Well, Nancy Lee,” said Peter solemnly, “ if 
ever I’m in trouble I hope my friends will stick 
the way you do.” 


312 


CHAPTER XVIII 


THE GREEN KNIGHT’S BIG DAY 

The Inn fair was only two days after “ Summer- 
by-the-Sea.” Some people thought the success of 
the latter entertainment would hurt the fair, but 
others said it had merely whetted Halcyon’s appe- 
tite for gaiety. The fair opened in the afternoon, 
but it was sure to be best patronized in the even- 
ing, when the grounds were gay with Japanese 
lanterns, colored lights burned over the harbor, 
the booths were auctioning off bargains, and the 
bands played all the time. 

The cottage people were all going in the even- 
ing. They told one another so ostentatiously in 
public places. They repeated the statement before 
their servants, particularly before their newer serv- 
ants. There were a great many very new servants 
in Halcyon that week, and they were all men- 
servants ; they had come to mow lawns or to work 
in the stables or to help the butler or the chauffeur. 
They came down from town on various trains, and 
got off singly, without so much as a side-glance 
at one another. But one thing they all had in 
3i3 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


common ; put them in the sunlight, look closely, 
and you could catch a glint of bright metal under 
their coats. Halcyon Point was to be very well 
policed for the Inn fair. 

Dick, Peter, and Johnny Andrews had special 
policemen’s badges too, and were so proud of the 
distinction that they could hardly refrain from 
flaunting them in public. Dick and Johnny were 
to stand guard at their own places. Mrs. Little 
would not trust Peter with theirs ; she preferred 
one of the men from town. But Judge Smith 
jumped at Peter’s offer to look after “Gray 
Gables.” Each guard had a whistle, so it would 
be easy to summon reinforcements. If the Hal- 
cyon burglar made an attempt, individual or 
collective, on the Point cottages, it seemed as if he 
ought to pay high for it. 

Peter, Dick, and Johnny spent the early even- 
ing at the fair, going and returning in Johnny’s 
boat, because they thought that mode of departure 
would be most inconspicuous. It was difficult for 
the three young officials to realize that the eyes of 
all Halcyon were not on them that night. Peter 
was the only one who had to walk far to reach his 
post. He skulked along in the shadows, slunk 
up to the house, and let himself in by a little side- 
door, as Judge Smith had suggested. He had 
established himself in the dark at the window 
3i4 


THE GREEN KNIGHT'S BIG DAT 


that commanded the widest sweep of lawn, before 
he discovered that he had arrived before Judge 
Smith’s departure. 

“ I’ve been delayed,” explained that gentleman. 
“ My caution of a grandchild insists on going with 
me. Susan could give her a better time, I’m sure. 
And she further insisted that she wasn’t properly 
dressed for the occasion — a spot of mud on one 
stocking and a tumbled sash, I believe. Well, it 
doesn’t matter. She’s learning to play, and I’m 
learning with her. By the way, we had our ghost 
again this morning.” 

“We did ! ” Clare, in fresh sash and stockings, 
hopped into the room. “ I asked the boy that 
digs if he heard it, but he didn’t. He was here 
awf’lly early. He said he wasn’t coming again, 
and I’m glad of it, because I don’t like him. He 
left a pile of dirty old stones in the stable and I 
fell into it and had to be dressed all over. He 
wanted to see you, grandfather, but I told him 
you weren’t here. You weren’t either,” Clare con- 
cluded, as if her statement had been called in 
question, and then added an explanatory, “ But 
I guess I did say you’d be back to-morrow. I 
didn’t want that boy tagging around to-night.” 

“ No, we can’t be bothered to-night,” agreed 
Judge Smith jovially. “ Good-bye, Peter. Now, 
Clare, forget that you’ve seen Peter here to-night. 

3i5 


NANCY LEE'S LOOKOUT 


Don’t mention it to a soul. He’ll find that ghost 
for you, I guess, if nobody knows he’s around.” 

Peter sat for a while in his chosen window, 
made two tours of the big house without finding 
anything amiss, and finally, deciding that the rose 
arbor by the back door was a better sentry-box than 
the one he had first chosen, he went stealthily out 
to it. He had not been there five minutes before 
a suspicious rustling in the long grass near the 
garage attracted his attention. Straining his eyes 
Peter watched till he was sure somebody, or some- 
thing, was there. Then, slinking in the shadows 
and darting silently across an open space, he fell 
upon a wriggling figure and grappled with it. 
To his amazement it offered no resistance, merely 
rolling from under him, and murmuring amiably, 
“That’s right, old man. Two can do this job 
better than one.” Then, as Peter’s grip tightened 
indignantly, the voice added softly, “ Crickets, 
you’re choking me ! ” 

“ I’m arresting you,” corrected Peter, speaking 
by some instinct in his adversary’s whisper, “ for 
trespass and disorderly conduct, and ” Sud- 

denly Peter remembered with chagrin that he had 
no evidence of a more serious charge against his 
captive. 

“ Did you think I was the burglar ? ” whispered 
the captive. 

316 


THE GREEN KNIGHT'S BIG DAY 


“ Never mind what I think,” returned Peter 
sternly. 

“ Well, I’m not. I’m Lawrence Masters, Junior, 
and the burglar is down in that barberry tangle, 
trying the kitchen window.” 

“ While you watch up here and delay me,” 
murmured Peter. “I’m a police officer.” He 
showed his badge. 

“ That’s good,” breathed Lawrence Masters, 
Junior. “If he fights, we can hit him hard for 
resisting arrest. I say, Miss Lee’s tall friend told 
me that people here think we’re queer. You don’t 
mean you think I’m in with this burglar ? ” 

“ What are you doing here, if you’re not ? ” 

“ Looking after some buried treasure — unburied 
treasure, I mean, that’s down in the stable. I was 

coming up to see Judge Smith, when I say, 

let’s get the burglar, and then we can talk.” 

Peter hesitated. Here was another “ fishy ” 
story, another compromising position. 

“ On my honor as a gentleman, I promise to 
play fair and to help you,” whispered the queer 
boy. 

“ And to wait afterward until your case is 
settled ? ” 

“ Sure, and to show you the treasure, and ” 

Peter thought hard for one long moment. There 
certainly was a man moving stealthily on the bar- 

317 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


berry patch near the kitchen window. The Green 
Knight gave his word of honor. Nancy Lee be- 
lieved in him. 

“ All right,” whispered Peter. “ You keep to 
the right side of him as we close in, and I’ll bear 
to the left.” 

It had taken only a minute, that colloquy in the 
tall grass. The man in the barberry patch, intent 
on sounds within the house, had heard nothing. 
He was skilfully cutting a pane from the kitchen 
window. Peter was better at wriggling than the 
Knight, but the Knight was wonderful at running 
from cover to cover. He reached the edge of the 
barberry patch first, and was crouching under a 
very prickly bush when the man at the window 
turned and discovered Peter, not yet hidden. 
With a bound he dropped from the window ledge 
out into the shrubbery on the side furthest from 
Peter. At him flashed the Knight, regardless of 
brambles. Peter, blowing his whistle vigorously, 
ran round the edge of the shrubbery to make 
a flank attack. Through the barberry tangle 
floundered the man, just out of the Knight’s reach. 
Out he dodged into a lilac thicket. 

“ Grab him ! ” cried the Knight, flashing his 
little electric search-light. Peter grabbed and 
caught something soft and sleek that came off in 
his hands — a dark silk coat. After that the man’s 
318 


THE GREEN KNIGHT’S BIG DAT 

white shirt made pursuit easier. The Knight got 
the next chance to attack at close quarters, and he 
hung on bravely. Peter got hold and hung too. 

The man fought silently, desperately. “ Hang 
it all — do you want me to shoot ? ” he muttered once. 
But the boys hung on, sure it was an empty threat. 
With lights flashing in the road, and shouts and 
running footsteps converging from every direction, 
with a “ bug-light ” in the Knight’s pocket, and a 
whistle in Peter’s, any burglar could see that it 
was useless to make a bad matter worse. 

“ Why, Mr. Ellis I ” cried Peter in astonishment. 
“ Why, Mr. Ellis ! ” Two deputies had handcuffed 
the burglar, and the Knight had suddenly switched 
his light full on the man’s face. 

“ Right you are, Little Peter,” returned the 
burglar. “ I’m done for. You boys put up a 
good fight.” 

Peter’s eyes dropped to Mr. Ellis’s hands. Yes, 
they were white and soft and slender. It made 
fastidious Peter a little sick to think that he had 
caught a man he knew, who knew him well enough 
to call him by his intimate nickname. 

He turned to the Green Knight, and drew him 
to one side. “ You certainly played fair,” he said. 
“ Let’s get out of this. Come over to the Lees’ 
and find Dick and Johnny and do some talking.” 

“ Sure,” agreed the Knight. “ I passed my 
3i9 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

exam in math day before yesterday. I can talk 
now, all anybody will stand for. But first I’ve 
got to find Judge Smith and give him the treasure.” 

“ What treasure? ” demanded Peter. 

“ Why, the buried treasure,” explained the 
Knight impatiently. “ I found it this morning. 
I never expected to. Crickets, but this is my 
busy day ! ” 

In the end the Knight and Peter did go to the 
Lees’, as Peter had suggested, and there, when 
Dick and Johnny, sadly envious, Nancy and 
Christina, noisily triumphant, and Jane a little 
shamefaced over her treatment of the other 
Trianglers, had gathered in a sociable circle on 
the piazza, the Green Knight, Lawrence Masters, 
Junior, told his story. It was late when he began, 
but even Mrs. Lee conceded that Halcyon Point 
would naturally keep late hours on this most ex- 
citing night in its history. 

“ Shucks ! it’s nothing to tell,” the Green Knight 
began his story. “ It was like this. We live in 
France. That is, we have stayed there almost 
ever since I can remember. Paris in winter and 
Dinard — that’s a jolly little place on the north 
coast — in summer. Last fall we came over here, 
so I could go to an American school. At least 
that was one reason, and another was because my 
mother thought her English was getting rusty. 

320 


THE GREEN KNIGHT'S BIG DAT 


You see, my mother is Shucks, she’s told me 

never to say that ! Well, anyhow New York was 
great. We’d had plenty of fun in France, but 
New York was home, and there was something in- 
teresting to do every minute. We did all the jolly 
things there were, but this spring I found I’d 
flunked my math and got low marks in two other 
subjects, and when I told my mother she said she 
couldn’t scold me, because she’d fallen down on 
her job, too. You see, my mother — well, she’s 
told me never to say it, but I guess to-night is an 
exception. My mother is a writer. I guess you 
all know her books, but her name when she writes 
is different. She’d been working on a novel in 
New York, and when her publishers read it they 
told her it wasn’t up to her standard, and ought 
not to be printed. ‘ And I think they are right,’ 
my mother told me when we talked things over. 
* Now, shall we go back to France and settle down 
to work?’ You see,” explained the Green 
Knight, “ we always plan things together, my 
mother and I, because we’re all the family there 
is, and we stick tight together. 

“ So I said, ‘ I hate to leave America.’ ‘ I do, 
too,’ said my mother. ‘ Then we won’t let America 
beat us. We’ll go down to Halcyon, where your 
grandfather and all my grandfathers lived. We’ll 
have a little house, with only old Jules and old 
321 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


Virginie’ — those are our servants that we brought 
from France — ‘ to work for us. I’ll revise my 
book, and you’ll dig at your math. We’ll live like 
hermits until we’ve made good.’ That part about 
hermits made me laugh, because my mother is 
awfully sociable, and so am I. And besides, she 
is known everywhere, and strangers are always 
rushing up to her and saying they recognize her 
from her pictures. So I said that if we were going 
to live like hermits, she’d better get a dark veil 
to hide herself under, and we went right out and 
bought it. We’ve had more fun over that veil ! 
Well, we’ve dug at our jobs and made good. Her 
publishers like the novel so well now that they’ve 
arranged for English editions and translations and 
all that sort of thing. And I’ve passed off my 
math. That’s all,” ended the Green Knight se- 
renely. 

“ But you dug in the ground too,” added Dick 
Lee, who had heard from Peter about the “ dirty 
stones ” in the stables at “ Gray Gables.” 

“ Oh, that was my mother’s plan to keep me out 
of mischief,” explained the boy. “ You can’t dig 
at math all the time, you know. She said I’d be 
sure to pick up a lot of friends between times and 
forget the hermit business ; and then she remem- 
bered an old map that her father’s father had 
given his son — something about buried treasure 
322 


THE GREEN KNIGHT'S BIG DAT 


down here at Halcyon. That was just the thing 
for me to do alone, because of course a treasure- 
hunt is sort of a secret. Only I had to tell Judge 
Smith. And this morning I found the treasure 
— part of it, anyhow.” 

“ What was it? ” gasped Nancy and the twins in 
chorus. 

“ Oh, ‘ one silver tankard, two silver vessels and 
one gold, a chist of coin, two small silver platters 
and much pewter ware/ ” chanted the boy indiffer- 
ently. “ At least, that’s what the paper said. The 
vessels are all so black that you can’t tell gold, 
silver, and pewter apart. The ‘ chist ’ is locked. 
It was all I could do to lift it, so if the coins 
are gold or even silver, there must be quite a 
hoard.” 

“ Weren’t you fearfully excited ? ” demanded 
Jane, curious about the Knight’s offhand man- 
ner. 

“ Why — no,” he said, “ I was embarrassed. I 
was excited enough for a minute, when my 
shovel struck something hard, but after that I 
didn’t know what to do about it. I was going to 
leave the stuff right where it was, but Judge 
Smith was away, and I had to put it somewhere. 
I piled it up in the stable, in a part that they 
don’t use. I thought it would be all right till 
morning, but when I told my mother she sent me 

323 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


straight down to speak to Judge Smith or some 
other responsible person. And in that way I got 
mixed up with the burglar.” 

“ For the last but not the first time,” added 
Johnny Andrews in his most judicial manner. 
“ Now will you kindly tell us the name of your 
long-fingered friend ? I mean the fellow who was 
with you at ‘ Summer-by-the-Sea.’ ” 

“ And who came to the Reef for you,” added 
Jane quickly. 

“Oh, that was Professor Fenwick. I flunked 
my math to him and mother got him down so I 
could know positively that I’d made good, and be 
able to enjoy the rest of my summer. The first 
time he came I couldn’t satisfy him about loga- 
rithms. What’s exciting you so about Professor 
Fenwick ? ” 

Johnny explained. 

“ Well, I am relieved,” sighed the Green Knight. 
“ I suppose his hands are rather extra long and 
white for a man’s. I’d rather you’d think Pro- 
fessor Fenwick was a crook than to think any- 
thing off-color about my mother or me.” 

There was a guilty silence. 

“ Oh ! ” sighed the Knight again. “ So people 
did think we were crooks before that ? ” 

“ The girls didn’t,” from Peter. 

“ Except me, after that morning on the rocks,” 

324 


THE GREEN KNIGHT’S BIG DAT 


confessed honest Jane. “ Why wouldn’t you tell 
me anything ? ” 

“ Oh, I suppose it was silly,” admitted the Green 
Knight, “ but that’s the way we’d planned it, my 
mother and I. We just thought that if we began 
to explain about the hermit business we’d waste all 
our time explaining. So we promised ourselves 
not to get into any conversations until we were 
through. Of course we didn’t realize how people 
were noticing us.” 

“ No,” said Jane, “ of course a deaf foreign maid, a 
gardener who speaks no English, a green veil, a treas- 
ure hunt, and a hermit’s reserved manner wouldn’t 
be the least bit conspicuous in any summer colony.” 

The boy laughed. “ It does sound pretty — un- 
usual, the way you tell it.” He turned to Nancy. 
“ I believe you’re to blame,” he declared. “ Your 
brother and his chums wouldn’t have noticed me 
much if you hadn’t made me look out for you that 
day.” 

“ Oh, dear ! ” Nancy looked the picture of woe. 
“ I never dreamed my carelessness would get any 
one mistaken for burglar’s accomplices. But 
there’s one comfort ; you didn’t know it until it 
was all over. And I’ve told the boys right along 
that they were perfect sillies.” 

“ That’s right,” declared Peter. “ She has. I’ll 
bet I’d have hung on to you to-night and let the 

325 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


right man get away if I hadn’t remembered what 
Nancy said.” 

“ Well, if you’ve heard all you need out of me 
for a while,” said the Green Knight formally, “ I’ll 
go up and ’tend to my treasure. Can’t you fellows 
come along? ” 

So it happened that Dick, Johnny, and Peter 
were down at the stable with Judge Smith and the 
Knight when the “ Gray Gables ” ghost shrieked 
and was caught at it. 

Judge Smith was more excited about the finding 
of the treasure than any of the boys. He insisted 
on going out to look it over at once, and he even 
set to work to clean up the tankards and vessels 
that night ; but after vigorous use of the garden 
hose, the juice of two dozen lemons, most of a bag 
of salt, and all the available supply of metal polish, 
the “ black lumps ” were almost as black as ever. 
Judge Smith was a man of action. 

“ Here, James,” he told the chauffeur, who had 
been summoned to contribute metal polish, “ have 
these at a jeweler’s by eight to-morrow morning. 
Get a receipt. Tell him I expect them to be pol- 
ished like new by noon.” He turned to the Green 
Knight. “You’ll let me do that? And you’ll 
leave the pile here on exhibition for a while? I 
paid a lot for this place, but between ghosts and 
buried treasure I’m getting my money’s worth.” 

326 


THE GREEN KNIGHT’S BIG DAT 


“ They’re not mine,” said the boy. “ They’re 
yours ; they were found on your property.” 

“ I didn’t buy any underground jewelry stores,” 
objected Judge Smith. “ You had a permit ” 

“ It was just a map,” said the boy. “ It didn’t 
say anything about the ownership of the treasure. 
I never expected to find any, you see.” 

“Just where did you find it?” inquired Judge 
Smith. 

“ I’ll show you.” The Knight picked up a lan- 
tern, and armed with that and his trusty “ bug- 
light ” he led the way around to the rear of the 
stable. “ Right here close to the foundation wall. I 
measured from the oak stump half-way up the hill. 
Old Captain Mixter remembers when it was a big 
tree. That was one of the things mentioned in my 
map, and the other was the old pond. Captain 
Mixter remembered just where that was, too. So 
I had all the landmarks I needed. I’m not sure 
but old Captain Mixter has the best right to the 
treasure, Judge Smith.” 

“ Maybe he has. I’ll tell James to have it ap- 
praised. If its value runs into the thousands, we 
ought to consider the matter of ownership pretty 
carefully.” 

“ Into the thousands ! Crickets ! ” Leaning 
back against the wall of the barn, the Knight 
gave vent to a long, low whistle of incredulous 

327 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


amazement. “ No wonder my mother thought I 
shouldn’t leave the things lying about here over 
night. Into the thousands ! ” The Knight whis- 
tled again shrilly. 

“ Judge Smith I Oh, Judge Smith ! ” It was a 
woman’s frightened voice, calling from the drive 
in front of the stable. 

“Now what’s happened?” demanded Judge 
Smith irascibly, and seizing the Knight’s lantern 
went to find out. 

It was Susan, in a state of agitation extreme 
even for her. 

“ It’s the ghost, sir,” she gasped, “ shriekin’ 
something fearful, and Miss Clare insisted I 
should come to tell you, as no one else was about. 
We heard it clear down-stairs, sir. I’m all of a 
shiver, thinkin’ it was running behind me in the 
grass.” 

“ Now, boys ! ” Judge Smith’s summons was 
answered by the trio of ghost-hunters. The 
Knight, remembering that he had left a knife 
behind him that morning, stopped an instant to 
look for it with his search-light. Standing close 
to the barn-wall, he twisted the little light 
hither and yon, and, straining his eyes after 
his lost property, whistled softly, as was his 
invariable habit when he was thinking or work- 
ing intently. 


328 


THE GREEN KNIGHT’S BIG DAT 


A shrill cry sounded from the big house. 
11 Susan, you hurry up quick 1 It called again, 
that old thing I ” 

The Knight, who had stopped whistling to 
listen, broke out again in an amused trill. So the 
ghost that Judge Smith had spoken of was abroad 
to-night. It was certainly a big day I 

“ Susan, you hurry, I say I It called another 
time,” came the shrill cry again from the big 
house. 

With a shrug the Knight started after the 
others. It was clearly no time to be hunting a 
mere pocket-knife. As he turned from the wall, 
his coat-sleeve caught on some projection. It was 
the end of a pipe, apparently, running out an inch 
or two from the wall. 

“ Funny ! ” muttered the boy, with his light 
turned on and his lips close to the hole. “ I never 
noticed that before, and I can’t see the use of it.” 
Then, with an annoyed shrug at having fallen 
again into his hermit’s habit of talking to himself, 
he hurried to join the others. The ghost hunt 
was systematic but aimless, since neither Susan 
nor Clare could give any idea of the location of 
the voice. Johnny and Dick went through the 
cellars of “ Gray Gables.” Peter and the Knight 
poked around the grounds and stables. Judge 
Smith went to reassure his granddaughter. He 

329 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 

came back to the boys in a state of great amuse- 
ment. 

“The creature’s learning to talk English,” he 
explained. “The last thing it said, according to 
Susan, was * Funny, I never noticed that before.’ 
Then it relapsed into its habitual mutterings.” 

The ghost-hunters, who had rounded up to hold 
a consultation, laughed with Judge Smith at the 
ghost’s new accomplishment — all but the Green 
Knight. 

“ Why, I said that ! ” he cried excitedly. “ I 
said that very sentence. I was standing by the 
wall back near the treasure-hole. I caught my 
sleeve on a pipe, and I stopped to look at it. I’ve 
often stood against that wall to rest and think, 
but I never noticed the pipe-hole.” 

“ Well, how in time could Susan hear you ? ” 
demanded Judge Smith. “ Let’s go and look at 
this pipe.” 

It was a china pipe-end. It had evidently been 
painted when the barn was painted, and at that 
time or some other one side had been badly 
chipped. Judge Smith peered at it carefully, felt 
it, and then, putting his lips to the hole, roared, 
“ Hi, Susan ! Hi, Clare ! ” joyously. Then he 
turned to the boys. “ Come to the house and find 
the other end of the contraption,” he ordered. 
“ It’s not a pipe. It’s a speaking-tube. The man 
330 


THE GREEN KNIGHTS BIG DAT 


who sold me ‘ Gray Gables ’ was a great horseman. 
This wall of the barn was a partition- wall in his 
time, with more rooms behind it. His coachman 
slept here, with his cot against that wall. I re- 
member the agent’s telling me that I could talk 
to the stables from almost any room in the house. 
But I put in telephones, ordered the tubes stopped 
up, and forgot ’em. Evidently one at least was 
overlooked. So you’re the ‘ Gray Gables ’ ghost, 
young man ! ” 

“ I suppose I’m part of it, anyhow,” sighed the 
Green Knight ruefully. “ I never expected to be 
mixed up in anything like this. It all comes of 
my everlasting whistling.” 

“ Don’t you regret it, young man,” ordered 
Judge Smith. “Don’t you regret it! I’ve en- 
joyed my ghost. You fellows all come to dinner 
to-morrow night. We’ll inspect the treasure, dis- 
cuss who owns it, and who caught the ghost, and 
I’ll pay my bills. Don’t you regret whistling, 
young man ! It’s a cheerful, honest habit and 
it’s given me a real lark. I decided to grow 
young down here this summer, and I’ve done it, 
thanks to my ghost.” 

Meanwhile down at the Inn, Hope’s lovely eyes 
had been blindfolded, and she had identified the 
“ Gray Gables ” burglar by his hand as the same 
one she had encountered. 

33i 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


“ Yes, I know that hand,” Hope declared un- 
hesitatingly. “ I can’t be mistaken. Oh, but I’m 
sorry I ” 

“ Don’t you worry for a minute, kid,” Mr. Ellis 
told her. “ I’m not worth it. I can stand what’s 
coming to me, all right, but I don’t want to spoil 
the shine in your eyes.” He turned to the detect- 
ives. “ Her identification is a farce, of course. 
I can furnish a complete alibi.” With that Mr. 
Ellis, gentleman-burglar, vanished from the life 
of Halcyon Bay, and shortly afterward began a 
long term in prison. 


332 


CHAPTER XIX 


A WONDERFUL WORLD 

Nancy Lee sat on the Birdcage floor. In front 
of her were two big wicker baskets and beside 
them two huge piles of what appeared to be very 
glittery snowballs. Only close inspection revealed 
the fact that cotton-batting and frost-powder sup- 
plied the place of real snow. Each ball con- 
tained a toy, those in one pile being for boys and 
in the other for girls. The snowballs were to 
furnish the lighter part of the Rocky Neck chil- 
dren’s Christmas, and Nancy was packing them in 
two baskets to be carefully wrapped and consigned 
to the guardianship of Mrs. Miggs, who had 
promised to attend to the carrying out of all 
details of the Christmas party. 

The twins had gone. Nancy had not had much 
time to miss them, because of the Green Knight’s 
fondness for tennis. In half an hour he and Dick 
would be back from bathing, and Dick and 
Alexandra had challenged the Green Knight and 
Nancy to a match. Nancy wanted to pack her 
baskets before that, because then she could get the 
333 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


boys to wrap them up. If there was one thing 
Nancy Lee particularly hated doing it was wrap- 
ping unwieldy bundles. Nancy laid the snow- 
balls in neat layers, patting each one lovingly into 
place. There were such cunning toys inside, gulps 
of joy for some of those forlorn Neck children. 
How lovely Hope had looked when she opened 
her snowball and found her lost money 1 Of 
course it was too bad, Nancy reflected, that the 
burglar had hidden his booty so securely that Mrs. 
Augustus Walker’s black pearls were still missing ; 
but it would have spoiled the beautiful climax to 
the “ Summer-by-the-Sea ” entertainment if the 
money had not been needed for Hope. 

“ A man for to see you, Miss Nancy.” Rosa 
had come unperceived down the Birdcage path. 

“For me?” Nancy jumped up hastily. “A 
boy, you mean, Rosa? ” 

“ Oh, no, — very old,” explained Rosa, and Nancy 
followed her to the house. 

“Good-morning!” Judge Smith, evidently in 
his most impatient mood, was pacing the living- 
room floor. 

“Oh, won’t you come out and see the snow- 
balls?” cried Nancy impulsively. “ We were so 
sorry you couldn’t be here to help wind them, 
and to see Hope get hers. It was splendid ! ” 

“I don’t doubt it,” agreed Judge Smith drily. 

334 


A WONDERFUL WORLD 

“ That little girl with the bright eyes interests me. 
We'll get to her in a minute. I've come on busi- 
ness. To begin with, the buried treasure is dis- 
posed of. The boy wouldn’t have it. I wouldn’t 
have it. It clearly, then, reverts to the Miggs 
heirs, whose ancestors put it there. There’s only 
one Miggs heir — that little mite of a woman down 
on the Neck. I’ve had the stuff valued and sold 
for her — all but one or two things she wants to 
keep. She looks upon the ten thousand dollars 
from the sale as a vast fortune.” 

“Of course she would !” cried Nancy joyously. 
“ She’ll have the loveliest time spending it. Oh, 
I’m so glad I ” 

“ Um ! ” Judge Smith’s tone was doubtful. 
“ She’s a nice little woman, but too much of a 
talker for me. She told me lots of things I didn’t 
care to know — poured ’em out on me in a stream. 
But all the same we got quite friendly — she’s a 
person it’s difficult to snub or to quarrel with. 
As she’d told me some things she meant to do with 
her money, I reciprocated. Several of the things 
I meant to do she thoroughly disapproved of.” 
Judge Smith’s eyes twinkled. “ For instance, 
when I spoke of educating that little Timmy 
Raftery, she said the Fair Oaks girls had thought 
of that. She asked me if I wasn’t young enough 
and smart enough to think out something for 
335 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 


myself. Well, I find I am young enough, and 
smart enough. I’m going to adopt a grandchild.” 

“ You mean Timmy? ” asked Nancy doubtfully. 
“ I suppose you could do more for him than we 
girls ” 

“ I don’t mean Timmy,” roared Judge Smith. 
“ Timmy’s not my discovery, as I’ve just told you. 
I’ve found somebody else that suits me just as well 
for a grandchild, and maybe better than that 
young rascal. I’m going to adopt Hope Haskins.” 

“ Oh ! ” cried Nancy joyously. 

“ I’m not going to spoil her,” Judge Smith broke 
in hastily on her ecstasy. “ The reason I need to 
adopt a grandchild is because all those I’ve got 
are spoiled. So while I’m in the business of help- 
ing somebody I’ve decided I may as well amuse 
myself and have what I’ve always wanted : a 
grandchild I can be tremendously, unqualifiedly 
proud of. So, if you approve, I’m going to choose 
Hope.” 

“ If I approve ! ” laughed Nancy. 

Judge Smith nodded gravely. “ Mrs. Miggs 
said you’re an expert on doing good yourself, and 
on getting other people interested in doing it. She 
says that if I knew all the kind things you’ve put 
through this summer, I’d be astonished. And she 
says that one of your principles is to have a good 
time yourself as you go along.” 

33b 


A WONDERFUL WORLD 

Nancy agreed eagerly. “ That was Jane’s idea 
— to make a game of it — the Lookout Game, we 
called it. Most of the ideas were other people’s, 
Judge Smith, and other people did most of the 
helping, too. So you mustn’t think that I’m a — a 
person to consult.” 

“ However that may be, I’m consulting you,” 
said Judge Smith irascibly. “ Do you or don’t 
you think Hope Haskins needs a little help on 
this college job, and can take it without being 
spoiled ? ” 

“ I certainly think she does and can,” declared 
Nancy. “ I don’t believe Hope’s the kind to be 
spoiled by anything.” 

“ Well, I shall be very careful about that,” 
snapped Judge Smith. “ No, I can’t stop for any 
snowballs. I’m — I’m not as cross as I sound, 
Miss Nancy Lee. You young people have given 
me a pretty good time this summer, among the 
whole of you.” And off he went. 

With shining eyes Nancy returned to her snow- 
balls. Recklessly now she piled them in — silly 
little snowballs, of no account at all compared 
with the splendid chances that had come to Hope 
and to Mrs. Miggs. 

“ Oh, Miss Nancy ! ” Fluttering down the path, 
a picture of joyous eagerness, came Mrs. Miggs. 
As Nancy jumped up to meet her, the little 
337 


NANCT LEE'S LOOKOUT 

lady’s face clouded and her hands flew up despair- 
ingly. 

“ You’ve heard ! ” she sighed. “ I see that on 
your face. How I’ve rushed to get here, and now 
somebody’s been beforehand with me ! Ain’t it 
lovely, though ? And ain’t it wonderful — -just as 
the Owl said. I’ve inherited money ! I’ve been 
to Doctor Dale to tell him we needn’t worry and 
contrive any more about a change of air an’ a 
wheel chair for my baby. There’s my journey, 
you see, to get the change of air.” 

“ And how about your wedding, Mrs. Miggs ? ” 
teased Nancy. 

The little lady bridled and blushed and fluttered. 
Then she grew suddenly serious. “ I don’t mind 
telling you something, dearie. Maybe you’ll think 
I’m forward, but at my age and his there’s no time 
to dawdle. You’ve heard tell of Captain Mixter, 
Miss Nancy. He’s blind and pretty helpless, and 
he ain’t made none too welcome by his son’s wife. 
Well, if he wants it too, Miss Nancy, there’ll be a 
wedding. He did want it once, when we was both 
young, so I have hopes that he may enjoy the 
thoughts of cornin’ to live with me in a snug little 
house on the Neck where there’s room for him an’ 
his parrot an’ his sea-shells that his daughter-in- 
law thinks is old-fashioned. I’ll keep working 
long’s I can, an’ after that we’ll set by our fire 
338 


A WONDERFUL WORLD 


together. There won’t be no naggin’ or fault- 
finding and all jokes and fun welcomed. Also the 
things he likes to eat,” ended Mrs. Miggs quaintly. 
“ He’s my oldest friend, so why shouldn’t he share 
my good fortune ? ” 

Nancy put splendid zest into winning the ten- 
nis-match. It was a wonderful world ! She was 
thinking so over and over, as she slammed the 
balls. They all went where she wanted them to. 
That reminded her of Cecilia — poor Cecilia, who 
would be sitting alone, on the Littles’ piazza. 
Dick and Peter and Johnny plotted nowadays to 
leave her out of the tennis games. They called it 
“ teaching her a lesson.” Nancy was inclined to 
approve their method, but to-day she was tender- 
hearted. 

“ Ask Cecilia to play the next set with you,” 
she begged the Green Knight. “ I’m tired — hon- 
estly I am. I’m not going to overwork my ankle. 
After I’m rested I’ll make us all lemonade.” 

Nancy really was a little tired, but what she 
wanted was a chance to talk to mother. She had 
told the tennis players about Hope and Mrs. 
Miggs and they had said “ Great, isn’t it ? Shall 
we toss for courts now ? ” Mother would under- 
stand. 

She did. Nancy found her up-stairs on her 
very private rest-piazza. For such wonderful 
339 


NANCT LEE’S LOOKOUT 


news as she had, Nancy felt that she might in- 
trude. Mother was just as interested and just as 
pleased as Nancy had known she would be. She 
drew her tall daughter down beside her in her big 
chair. 

“ I’m glad you’ve made so many friends this 
summer,” she said, “ friends that count. I’m glad 
you’ve made your vacation count, in spite of the 
ankle. That’s the kind of daughter I want.” 

“ But I’ve made you a lot of trouble. I’ve been 
much more trouble than help, I’m afraid,” said 
Nancy contritely. 

Mother shook her head. “ You’ve helped me a 
great deal. Accidents will happen ” 

“Even when you’re not careless,” cried Nancy. 
“ But I was 1 ” 

“ And I’d rather have you find too many worth- 
while interests outside your home than too few. 
Caring for nobody but one’s family and intimate 
friends, thinking only of them, gives one a very 
narrow outlook. I’d far rather you were thought- 
less sometimes than selfish — wrapped up in your 
own little world.” 

“ Oh, mother, you’re so encouraging I ” Nancy 
rushed off to her other confidant, the faithful Red 
Journal. The summer’s adventures had filled a 
great many pages. Yes, only two were left. She 
would ask father to send her another — the fattest 
340 


A WONDERFUL WORLD 


Red Journal he could find, and she would begin a 

second volume. But now 

“ I want to know things, to be wise,” wrote 
Nancy at the top of the first empty page. “ Hope 
says you can’t do without wisdom, and I think 
she’s right. But I want to put the doing of things 
for people who need me first of all, as Doctor Dale 
does, and I want always to have ‘ grit and good 
spirits,’ like dear Mrs. Miggs. And I must re- 
member not to rush ahead too fast, as Christina is 

always reminding me ” 

“ Lemonade ahoy ! ” called the Green Knight’s 
voice under her window. 

Nancy dropped the poor old Journal with a 
bang and flew down-stairs. “ Coming I ” she 
called back. “ Want to help me crack the ice ? ” 


The Stories in this Series are : 
NANCY LEE 

NANCY LEE’S SPRING TERM 
NANCY LEE’S LOOKOUT 


341 





MARGARET WARDE 


T HE author of the famous “Betty Wales” books, 
no doubt the most popular college stories for 
girls ever written, is a native of Vermont, and 
a graduate of one of the larger girls’ colleges. “I was 
a comical, shy, studious little girl,” she writes. “ I 
hated my hair because it was straight, and I never 
cared much for dolls. I preferred tramping in the 
woods with my brother and his friends. I began to 
to read ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when I was two, and I 
still read it sometimes out of the same nice old book. 
It’s pretty worn in places, and my copy of ‘Little 
Women’ is just simply read to pieces. 

“ I still like the same things I always did, you see; 
picnics, with sandwiches in a box and coffee boiled over 
a fire; long tramps after wild flowers or berries; long 
horse-back rides, especiallyoutin the Rockies, where you 
can go cross-country on a safe Mexican saddle that you 
can’t possibly fall off (because I am rather afraid of 
horses, in spite of being so fond of them): and in winter 
snow-shoeing through the deep woods in a snow-storm. 

“Among all the other things that I do, I just 
happened, ‘once on a time’, to write a book for girls, 
because somebody asked me to — and I have kept on 
because I love girls, and the realization that some of 
them enjoy my books makes me very happy. 

“ Betty Wales, Mary Brooks, Madeline Ayres and 
the rest are types of the American College girl.” 

Miss Warde’s books for girls are: 

Betty Wales, Freshman 
Betty Wales, Sophomore 
Betty Wales, Junior 
Betty Wales, Senior 
Betty Wales, B. A. 

Betty Wales & Co. 

Betty Wales on the Campus 
Betty Wales Decides 
Nancy Lee 

Nancy Lee’s Spring Term 
Nancy Lee’s Lookout 



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